8/8/2019 New Insights Into an Old Foe- TB
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NYU PHYSICIAN+ FALL 200722
in December 2007 that theyoung man had lesions onthe inside of
his skull, theimprint of brain membranesthat the disease has
beenravaging humans for muchlonger than anyone had
eversuspected.
thought to harbor Mycobacterium tubercu-losis (M. tbM. tb
takes hold, it literally consumes the body
and the blood vessels that run throughinfection speaks, sings,
coughs, or sneezes,the bacteria expelled linger in the air
forhours, ready to invade the next victim
disease of the poor, because it is at its most-some parts of
South Africa, as many as 70
Most bacteria or viruses that attack
the body elicit a robust immune responsetime the bacteria have
multiplied to nearly
What are you doing in the meantime?asks Dr. Joel Ernst, chief of
the Division ofvery good job of handling the infection.
although the lungs are the primary site-and thatM. tb manages to
establish achronic infection, in part by interfering -sic
information that should have already-ing countries.
effective, and the most commonly used
-
countries, says Suman Laal, Ph.D., asso-ciate professor of
pathology and microbi-
of Medicine and professor of microbiologyavailable drugs,
underscoring the urgency
basic research to understand the progres-constructed defenses
are no match forM. tb. -
response is from dendritic cells, gatekeepersthat initiate the
immune response, dispatch-marshaled another kind of initial
response
WHITE PLAGUE. KINGS EVIL.WASTINGreally is. Egyptian mummies,
skeletal remains, and -covered the fossil of a youngmale dating
back some
-
DOCTOR:JOEL ERNST
04
New Insightsinto an Old Foe: TB
BY:APOORVAMANDAVILLI
>
Joel Ernst,
M.D.,holdsup a petridish filled
withrecombinantE.colibacteria.
