Vitamin C kills Tuberculosis bacteria

A team from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York made the accidental find while researching how Tuberculosis bacteria become resistant to the TB drug isoniazid. The research was published in the journal Nature Communications. 

According to the authors, even more surprisingly, when they left out the TB drug isoniazid and just had Vitamin C alone, they discovered that Vitamin C kills tuberculosis. The team next tested the vitamin on drug resistant strains of TB, with the same outcome. In the lab tests, the bacteria never developed resistance to Vitamin C -- "almost like the dream drug". 

They stressed the effect had only been demonstrated in a test tube so far, and "we don't know if it will work in humans", or which dose might be useful. But in fact before this study we wouldn't have even thought about trying this study in humans." 

In March, disease experts warned of a "very real" risk of an untreatable TB strain emerging as more and more people develop drug resistance. The authors of the new study urged further research into the potential uses of Vitamin C in TB treatment, stressing it was "inexpensive, widely available and very safe to use."

Steve: Inexpensive is the key. That's why I found this article in a New Zealand newspaper, even though the discovery happened in New York.