Tuberculosis bacterium subverts basic cell functions

New findings reveal that the microbe achieves virulence by disrupting immune cells' internal processes

Tuberculosis microbes invading human immune cells carry a cargo that increases TB virulence by inducing the cells to act less like sentinels and more like bystanders, tests in mice show. In a report in the June 11 Nature, a team hypothesizes that this initial infection strategy lays the groundwork for TB’s uncanny ability to lie dormant in an infected person for years.