To fight tuberculosis, fund basic research.

Tuberculosis (TB) is now the leading cause of death from infectious disease. On September 26, 2018, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly holds its first high-level meeting on TB, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to commit governments around the world to redouble their TB control efforts. Here I share impressions from a preparatory meeting at the UN in June and make the case for basic research as a central component of any future TB control strategy. The pathogen that causes TB, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, is still largely a mystery. But if we do not understand the basic, fundamental workings of the pathogen, we cannot hope to develop 21st century interventions for the disease.