There has been a major breakthrough in the fight against tuberculosis, which kills 4000 people globally, each day.
Otago University researchers have discovered a way to treat the drug-resistant strains of TB.
Their work could help carve a pathway to fight other drug-resistant diseases.
Tuberculosis is one of the hardest infections to treat and some strains are even drug-resistant, but two major breakthroughs could change that.
"We've found new ways to rapidly kill drug-resistant strains of TB, and the second thing is we found new ways that we can combine different drugs in order to stop drug resistance from actually evolving," said senior author Dr Matthew McNeil.
Globally, 10 million people develop TB every year, it kills 4000 people a day, and about 300 cases of TB are diagnosed in Aotearoa each year.
Treatment is lengthy and often requires multiple drugs.
"Dugs are extremely toxic so individuals can find it difficult to adhere to their regiments and as a result, you get this incomplete treatment and that's driving this evolution of drug resistance throughout the world," said Dr McNeil.
Otago University researchers tried a range of antibiotics on a strain of TB - testing for weaknesses.
"We found a couple of collateral sensitivities that could potentially be exploited that could prevent the onset of resistance and potentially target the drug-resistant strains," PhD candidate Natalie Waller told Newshub.
And the research on TB may help aid in the fight against the increase in drug-resistant diseases globally.
"This work is trying to develop a new narrative around drug resistance. instead of them being feared as these superbugs, they might have weaknesses that we can exploit if we can find them and develop antibiotics to target them and translate to other bacteria," Dr McNeil said.
Research is in its early stages, but it's hoped Tuberculosis could become easier to treat with shorter treatment times.
