Grant: Operating Grant

Tuberculosis (TB) in humans is an extremely complex infection that is spread from individuals with active lung disease to uninfected individuals via air droplets containing the bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Despite the availability of effective drug treatment for more than half a century, 2 million people still die as a result of this devastating disease each year. Recent evidence indicates that M. tuberculosis has evolved into several large, genetically diverse families of strains that possess unique attributes potentially related to the development and spread of disease. One family of TB strains that has gained considerable notoriety over the past decade is known as the "Beijing" or "W/Beijing" family. In many parts of the world, the number of TB cases due to W/Beijing strains is found to be increasing in an epidemic fashion and these strains are frequently associated with the development of drug resistance. The research in this proposal aims to characterize the unique attributes of the W/Beijing family that contribute to their global success as an emerging pathogen. Understanding the contribution of strain variation to the overall disease process will greatly increase our knowledge of the range of strategies employed by M. tuberculosis to cause infection. Moreover, this may ultimately shed light on important new ways to diagnose and prevent TB transmission and disease.