Biofilms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis: New Perspectives of an Old Pathogen

Based on a randomized clinical trial conducted by British Medical Council between 1972 and 1974, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other government agencies implemented a short-course multi-drug regimen for tuberculosis – a disease caused by the infection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (BMC, 1972, Fox et al., 1999). The regimen is made of three antibiotics, isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide administered over a period of six months. The extended therapy is essential for sterilizing a small subpopulation of bacilli that presumably acquire phenotypic tolerance to antibiotics (Saltini, 2006, Jindani et al., 2003).