India, Dec. 4 -- A new IIT-Bombay-Monash University study has found that tuberculosis (TB) bacteria survive antibiotic treatment by hardening their outer shell, making it difficult for drugs to penetrate. The research, published in the peer-reviewed journal Chemical Science on Wednesday, explains why dormant TB bacteria remain largely untouched during treatment and continue to persist for months despite medication.

The study, led by Prof Shobhna Kapoor of IIT Bombay and Prof Marie-Isabel Aguilar of Monash University, Australia, tracked how the outer layer of the bacteria changes as they shift from active infection to a slow, dormant phase. "People have studied TB from the protein point of view for decades," said Kapoor. "But lipids (fatt...