Mycobacterium tuberculosis KZN1435(MDR)

Strain KZN 1435 was isolated from a human patient in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is resistant to isoniazid and rifampin.It is an acid-fast, obligate aerobic, non-motile, rod-shaped bacterium, this is the causative agent of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is, to this day, according to the WHO, the leading killer of adults, with approximately 2 million deaths annually worldwide. It is estimated that 8 million people are infected each year. A large part of its success as a pathogen is due to its ability to persist in a dormant or latent form for years or even decades, with a concomitant absence of clinical symptoms. This non-replicating persistent form is refractory to most drugs, it may be induced by hypoxia (oxygen depletion) and/or nitric oxide exposure. Up to one-third of the world's population is thought to be latently infected. An additional problem is the emergence of drug resistant strains, mainly because people do not complete their treatment plans or have been incorrectly treated and so have remained infectious.