While tuberculosis is one of the most ancient infectious diseases known, it is still far from being a thing of the past. There were 9,025 cases reported in the US in 2018 according to the CDC. Globally, an estimated 10 million people fell ill with TB in 2018 as reported by WHO. The burden of disease varies enormously among countries, from fewer than five to more than 500 new cases per 100 000 population per year, with the global average being around 130. There were an estimated 1.2 million TB deaths among HIV-negative people in 2018, and an additional 251 000 deaths among HIV-positive people.
TB is a treatable disease, but the regimen is complex and lengthy – a multiple drug course taken for 6-30 months. With drug resistant strains becoming increasingly common among TB cases, antibiotic resistance constitutes a serious problem that highlights the urgency to develop new therapeutic strategies.