This is a medical illustration of drug-resistant, Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria, presented in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication entitled, Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, 2019 (AR Threats Report).
Medical Illustrators: Alissa Eckert; James Archer
Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a global health burden. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 10.8 million people contracted TB worldwide in 2023, and the disease is present in all countries and age groups.¹ A total of 1.25 million people died from TB in 2023, which likely makes it the world’s leading cause of death from a single infectious agent, according to the WHO.¹
Additionally, with high incidence rates comes the issue of resistance. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) remains a public health crisis…