Genes, Lungs, and Breath: Unravelling the Genetic Basis of Post-TB Disability

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of humanity's oldest and most resilient global public health crises. While modern medicine has achieved monumental milestones in active diagnosis and therapeutic intervention, the global shadow of TB-exacerbated by the rise of drug-resistant strains-continues to impose staggering health and economic tolls worldwide. Yet, an overlooked frontier in the fight against TB is what happens after the cure. For a vast number of survivors, the end of antimicrobial therapy marks the beginning of a lifetime of pulmonary function impairment. This long-term sequela severely erodes patients' functional capacity and diminishes their daily quality of life. Historically, the precise mechanisms driving this chronic post-TB disability-and the reasons why some survivors suffer catastrophic lung damage while others recover relatively unscathed-have not been fully elucidated. Genes, Lungs, and Breath: Unraveling the Genetic Basis of Post-TB Disability was born out of a systemic effort to map the multifaceted predictors of this post-infectious lung dysfunction.