I am a little skeptical. First, tuberculosis, or galloping consumption, as the article refers to is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis which is an acid fast bacterium. A virus is another entity entirely, so I do not understand why the article refers the "the tuberculosis virus". It has never been a virus as far as the microbiology goes.
I'll stop there. No need to go further.
You are correct. It's difficult to treat due to the lipid coating around the organism which tends to slow or prevent absorption of antibiotics. Same genus as the causative organism for leprosy, BTW,
Mycobacterium leprae.
In a college path lab I once had a fellow student drop a petri dish of M. tuberculosis on the floor during a class. We did the whole place in formalin and they made us autoclave our shoes. Ever seen a pair of autoclaved sneakers? Not a pretty sight...