Microbe Profile: Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Humanity's deadly microbial foe: This article is part of the Microbe Profiles collection.

Stephen V. Gordon; Tanya Parish

doi:10.1099/mic.0.000601

Volume 164, Issue 4

Other

Open Access

Microbe Profile: Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Humanity's deadly microbial foe

This article is part of the Microbe Profiles collection.

Stephen V. Gordon^1,2 and Tanya Parish³
View Affiliations Hide Affiliations

Affiliations: ¹ UCD College of Health and Agricultural Sciences, University College Dublin, Ireland ² UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland ³ Infectious Disease Research Institute, 1616 Eastlake Avenue E, Suite 400, Seattle, WA 98102, USA
*Correspondence: Stephen V. Gordon, [email protected] Tanya Parish, [email protected]
Published: 01 April 2018 https://doi.org/10.1099/mic.0.000601

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an expert and deadly pathogen, causing the disease tuberculosis (TB) in humans. It has several notable features: the ability to enter non-replicating states for long periods and cause latent infection; metabolic remodelling during chronic infection; a thick, waxy cell wall; slow growth rate in culture; and intrinsic drug resistance and antibiotic tolerance. As a pathogen, M. tuberculosis has a complex relationship with its host, is able to replicate inside macrophages, and expresses diverse immunomodulatory molecules. M. tuberculosis currently causes over 1.8 million deaths a year, making it the world’s most deadly human pathogen.

Received: 21/04/2017
Accepted: 19/12/2017
Published Online: 01/04/2018

This is an Open Access article published by the Microbiology Society under the Creative Commons Attribution License

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Volume 164, Issue 4

Other

Open Access

Microbe Profile: Mycobacterium tuberculosis: Humanity's deadly microbial foe

This article is part of the Microbe Profiles collection.

Abstract

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