Scientists have solved a decade-old mystery that could eventually lead to the development of earlier treatments for one of the world’s deadliest diseases, which affects up to 2 billion people.

Scientists have discovered a key ‘survival gene’ that prevents strains of tuberculosis (TB) from mutating into drug-resistant ‘superbugs’.

Scientists at the University of Sussex have unraveled a key process in the bacterium that causes tuberculosis (TB), potentially paving the way for new antibiotics to fight the disease.