NIAID [Public domain] via Wikimedia CommonsTuberculosis, caused by infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is a leading cause of illness and death worldwide, killing >1 million people annually. Current treatment uses multiple drugs, lasts for months and is challenged by increasing drug resistance among strains. Mycobacterial drug resistance is mediated in part by efflux, a pumping mechanism that sheds drugs from the bacterial cell before they take effect. In the search for new, effective treatments for tuberculosis, a team of researchers used structure-based design to generate semi-synthetic antimicrobial compounds with narrow-spectrum activity against mycobacteria.
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