Molecular Biology Of Drug Resistance In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Research Report

Tuberculosis has long been a disease that the human culture has been dealing with which entails significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. With dealing with such a horrific disease over the years, discoveries and evolution on the appropriate ways to contain, diagnose, and challengingly treat the disease has changed. One of the most concerning complications of this worldwide public health issue is the ability for it to quickly spread in high populated areas while becoming ever more resistant to forms of treatment not available in all locations around the world. This is a serious public

Bacterial pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis causes tuberculosis a complex granulomatous disease which is a global health concern. It is a very slow growing bacteria, thus is extremely time consuming to culture in laboratory. It can survive the attack of the immune arsenal of our body; can successfully hide inside the macrophage. This makes long periods of uninterrupted antibiotic treatment necessary for the patients with tuberculosis and contributes to drug resistance very quickly [WHO 2014]. All this poses an extreme challenge to the scientists and the medical community to develop effective drug, monitor and treat this disease across globe. Before the discovery of anti-tubercular drugs, this disease was one of the most dreaded diseases. In absence of any drugs the only form of treatment recommended was healthy diet, rest and fresh air. Patients were sent to Tuberculosis sanatorium hoping that they might survive. The origin of this pathogen is traced back to Africa around 70,000 years ago and they successfully coevolved with humans as they migrated out of Africa and settled across the globe. Nearly 10,000 years ago there was a sudden change in human demography and the human population density increased suddenly, this is termed as Neolithic Demographic Transition. Genomic data of Mycobacterium across

TB is still proven to be a top killer around the world, and with more cases of drug resistant TB being reported daily, the cost of treating and preventing this disease will continue to be on the rise.

Tuberculosis has been part of human history for a long time but how long is a long time? Recent research using genetic data has allowed us to know that the tuberculosis progenitor has been on this planet for about 3 million years affecting even our earlier ancestors (Gutierrez et al, 2005). Additionally this research showed that the bacilli from tuberculosis are capable of mixing sections of their genome with other strains and giving the pathogen a composite assembly, which resulted from ancient horizontal exchanges before its clonal expansion. This quality provided tuberculosis a big advantage that even now a days allows the organism to evade, adapt and create resistance to treatments that were once successful. In order to fix current and

Tuberculosis is a disease of an infectious nature caused by a bacterium known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease spreads through the air. People with the disease can spread it to susceptible people through coughing, sneezing, talking or spitting. It mainly affects the lungs and other parts such as the lymph nodes and kidneys can also be affected. The symptoms for TB are fatigue, coughing, night sweats, weight loss and fever. One third of the population of the world is affected with mycobacterium tuberculosis. The rate of infection is estimated to be one person per second. About 14 million people in the world are infected with active tuberculosis. Drug resistant TB has been recorded to be a serious public health hazard in many countries. Resistant strains have developed making it difficult to treat the disease. TB has caused millions of death mainly in people living with HIV/AIDS ADDIN EN.CITE Ginsberg19981447(Ginsberg, 1998)1447144717Ginsberg, Ann M.The Tuberculosis Epidemic: Scientific Challenges and OpportunitiesPublic Health Reports (1974-)Public Health Reports (1974-)128-13611321998Association of Schools of Public Health00333549http://www.jstor.org/stable/4598234( HYPERLINK l "_ENREF_3" o "Ginsberg, 1998 #1447" Ginsberg, 1998). The World Health Organization came up with the DOTS (Directly Observed, Therapy, Short course) strategy. The approach involves diagnosing cases and treating patients with drugs for about 6-8

Now, we will see what the most optimal solution to this recent problem in the classic epidemiological way, by understanding the history of TB, the drug-resistant strain’s origin, and recent cases of the disease.

Drug-sensitive tuberculosis patients in the continuation phase of treatment in the intervention arm and their family members.

Tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), also known as TB, is a disease spread by respiratory inhalation of droplets that contain the bacteria. Tuberculosis is an ancient disease that has been traced back at least 9000 years. In 1882, Dr. Robert Koch was the first physician to describe Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the germ responsible for tuberculosis. However, treatment that was evidenced based was not put into practice until the 20th century. It is estimated that 2 billion people around the world are infected with the TB bacteria. Approximately 5 to 10 percent of these infected people will actual develop active TB and experience the life-threatening symptoms of the disease. Tuberculosis

Patients are asked to take multiple antibiotics, like your father, it's required to be taken for a certain amount of time (6 to 9 months). However, I must tell you that not all TB infected patients have the same medications. Some are infected with a TB virus that is considered “drug-resistant,” these patients are required to take stronger drugs that last longer. Just in case don’t go and start sharing medication from an old friend who once or still has TB, each patient is different. There are also people who have Latent TB, these patients don’t show none of the symptoms, the only way they know they are infected is through the “tuberculin skin test.” This however doesn’t affect your father, your father has an active TB. For active TB patients they must take common treatments like Ethambutol, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamide and Rifampin. It’s likely that your father might be asked to take a test in order to see if the medications will be strong enough to kill the bacteria. As mentioned before each patient is different, so the amount of medication and the length they will take it will vary. Depending on how the tests come out, your father will be required to take 3 to 4 medications for the first two months. Then for the following months the patient will be reduced to take 2 medications for the remainder of the treatment. Many doctors including myself will urge your father if he ever decides to

This paper will illustrate the transmission dynamics, life cycle, and mechanisms of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a chronic bacterial infection that affects millions of people globally. It is a contagious disease that is spread through the air, and it usually affects the lungs. It is transmitted from person to person through droplets from the respiratory tract of those who are already infected with the disease. Some who are infected with the bacteria that causes TB often exhibit no symptoms, because their immune systems stop the bacteria from growing and multiplying. Those with compromised immune systems are more susceptible to developing the full blown disease which can cause symptoms that include coughing, spitting blood, chest pains, weakness, weight loss, and fever. Tuberculosis can be treated with a six to nine month course of a combination of antibiotics. If left untreated, TB will spread and can be fatal.

TB is caused by a bacterial infection known as mycobacterium tuberculosis. If a patient is sick with TB is considered a disease. The infection is prevalent in the HIV population because approximately 13 million Americans are effected by the TB bacteria. It typically involves the lungs but can also affect the brain and other organ systems. The TB germ is airborne and can live in the air for several hours. Once an affected person coughs or sneezes another person breathes in the germ and becomes infected. A patient with TB and HIV/AIDS will have to take an antibiotics long term to battle the infection. They will have to go through two phases of medication. The initial phase consists of utilizing drugs such as isoniazid, pyrazinamide, rifamycin, and ethambutol for the first couple of months. Then the patient will enter into the continuation phase, during this phase the patient will take the isoniazid and rifamycin for approximately four months. HIV patient’s that are taking antiretroviral for the HIV will have to take the antibiotics longer. A person taking treatment for TB has to be careful because the antibiotic can cause liver damage. According to the CDC, roughly 6% of all TB cases are from patients with HIV or AIDS. In 1992 the United States had a dramatic increase in TB cases but has decreased ever since. Recently a group of researchers at John Hopkins

Microbiologists believe that Mycobacterium tuberculosis becomes antibiotic resistant when it exchanges genes with other already resistant bacteria because bacteria mutate and spread rapidly within hours. There are three forms of gene mutations categorized as conjugation, transformation, and transduction. Conjugation permits the transfer of DNA from one cell to another whereas transformation occurs when a cell decays. While its cell wall falls apart, the inner genetic makeup becomes available to other

For years now drug resistance is increasing and not just in one or two strands of bacteria, it is in all of them. This resistance makes treating a patient with the infection more difficult to the point where some strands require surgery. Tuberculosis is not a bacterium that you can easily remove from the body though. It takes time and medication for the tuberculosis to be eradicated from the body. The problem is with the advancements of medicine bacterium, like tuberculosis, are starting to produce resistance to not just one or two drugs here or there, but the bacteria is producing resistance for multiple drugs at one time.

India, the second most populous country with over 1.31 billion people, has the highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, accounting for 20% of the global incidence of TB, and an even higher share of global incidence of multi–drug resistant (MDR) TB. With an estimated 2 million new cases of TB and 5, 00,000 TB-related deaths in India annually, those who got diagnosed with different forms of DR-TB were 35,385 cases but only 20,753 people started on multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) treatment in 2013. The National Tuberculosis Program was launched in 1962, but suffered heavily continuing TB led mortality. Acknowledging this reality, a Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) was launched by the Government of India in 1997, however even today it does not comply with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations.