“If we ask further what significance belongs to the results gained in this study of tuberculosis it must be considered a gain for science that it has been possible for the first time to establish the complete proof of the parasitic nature of a human infectious disease, and this of the most important one. So far such proof was established only for anthrax, while in a number of other infectious diseases in human beings, for example relapsing fever, wound infections, leprosy, gonorrhoea, it was only known that parasites occur simultaneously with the pathogenic process, but the causal connection between the two has not been established. It may be expected that the elucidation of the aetiology of tuberculosis will provide new viewpoints for the study of other infectious diseases.”—Robert Koch, 1882

Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infectious disease caused by the obligate human pathogen, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Mycobacteria are a distinctive rod-shaped bacteria that share a common property of a lipid-rich cell wall that avidly retains Carbol fuchsin dye even in the presence of acidic alcohol (acid fast staining). Despite longstanding intense efforts to control this disease, Tuberculosis remains an expanding global health crisis that mandates new therapeutic and preventative strategies. Although a wealth of information has been gathered about M. tuberculosis over many decades of research into the bacteriology, cell biology, biochemistry, and immunology of this infection (