Tuberculosis, a bacterial disease which predominantly affects the lungs, isn’t all that common a sight in the United States. On average, fewer than 10,000 cases are reported each year in a country with a population of 325.7 million. In developing countries, it’s a different story, however. More than 95 percent of cases and deaths of TB take place in these countries, with the majority of patients are adults in their most productive years.

While TB can be treated with the right medication, there are some big obstacles involved. One of the biggest is the increasing number of drug-resistant tuberculosis strains. That’s something researchers at Brock University in Ontario, Canada have been working to help with. With this goal in mind, they have developed microscopic nanobots capable of determining whether a blood sample not only contains the tuberculosis bacteria — but also bacteria with the necessary mutations to make it drug-resistant.