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Life Science Reports

DOI

https://doi.org /10.62812/MGJP4087

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is a bacterium known to target, infect, and destroy lung cells as well as connective tissues within the body. This bacterium is prevalent worldwide and has infected over a quarter of the current world population, becoming one of the most successful pathogens in history. Due to its extreme transmission rates as an airborne pathogen, MTB strains have been treated with antibiotics such as rifampicin and isoniazid, which inhibit bacterial infection in the human body. These first-round drugs remained as successful mechanisms for slowing and killing the pathogen, notably through rifampicin's inhibition of RNA-polymerase and isoniazid’s ability to halt the formation of the bacterial cell wall. However, TB has proven a threat due to the recent discovery of multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis strains, rendering these first-round drugs ineffective. The major objectives of the present study were to 1) review the most recent published literature on TB, 2) examine the role of mutations on antibiotic resistance in TB strains and 3) share our synthesis on the successes and challenges of TB treatment worldwide. Our research was guided through data available in the NCBI GenBank, and a review of literature. To accomplish these objectives, we reviewed relevant literature on Mycobacterium tuberculosis to collect pathophysiological data, trends in TB mutations, and present-day applications of how this disease is continually prevalent worldwide. We collected antibiotic responsive rpoB gene sequences from the National Library of Medicine’s GenBank to assess mutations specific strains of TB from four countries. We found that random mutations caused the evolution of TB strains with effective antibiotic resistance and the selective nature of the medications encourages these antibiotic-resistant genes. New medications, like bedaquiline, take considerable research but effectively find new druggable targets against these resistant mycobacteria. However, MDR TB still remains a considerable threat despite some newly developed drugs.

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