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Could there maybe be better uses of genetics and probiotics?
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ChatGPT is not the end of essays in education
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Fighting infections with infections
Multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections are becoming more of an issue, with 1.2 million people dying of previously treatable bacterial infections. Scientists are frantically searching for new metho…
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COVID-19 at the University of Wisconsin this fall has been pretty much a non-issue. While we are wearing masks, full in-person teaching is happening on campus. Bars, restaurants, and all other busine…
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News

Why TB Is Hard to Cure


 

Mycobacterium is a type of bacteria that causes tuberculosis (TB) in humans. When dividing, cells usually split equally while copying DNA from the mother cell to the daughter cell. Recent research has shown that Mycobacteria behave in a unique manner, with cells dividing (through binary fission) asymmetrically. This means that the Mycobacteria all divide differently; they grow at different rates, sizes and have different vulnerability to antibiotics. Because the Mycobacteria cells are all different from one another, it is hard to create drugs that will defeat and kill all the different types of tuberculosis a human has acquired. Although it seems like one could look at this bacteria under a microscope to analyze this basic conclusion, it was not discovered until recently that this actually occurs. This concept is very important to society because . Another discovery that was found was that when the Mycobacterium divide, the newly created daughter cells grow from the mother’s “older” end of the cell. This means as cellular division continues to occur, there will be a variety of Mycobacteria that are different ages. This leads to different growth rates, while also creating a different vulnerability for each M. tuberculosis cell to antibiotics