Update on the treatment of tuberculosis

Med Clin (Barc). 2024 Sep 13;163(5):245-252. doi: 10.1016/j.medcli.2024.02.030. Epub 2024 May 4.
[Article in English, Spanish]

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) affects more than 10 million people each year. We have contested this burden with a paradoxically slow development of treatments, as compared to other infectious diseases. This review aims to update health care professionals on the last developments for the management of TB. The combination of drugs established more than 40years ago is still adequate to cure most people affected by TB. However, with the generalisation of regimens based on rifampicin and isoniazid for (only) 6months, resistance emerged. Resistant cases needed long treatments based on injectable drugs. Now, after an exciting decade of research, we can treat resistant TB with oral regimens based on bedaquiline, nitroimidazoles, and linezolid for (only) 6months, and we may soon break the 6-month barrier for treatment duration. However, these improvements are not enough to end TB without an engagement of people affected and their communities to achieve adherence to treatment, transmission control, and improve socioeconomic determinants of health.

Keywords: Bedaquilina; Bedaquiline; Drug resistance; Farmacorresistencia; Global management; Manejo multidisciplinar; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Short treatment; Tratamiento corto.

Publication types

  • Review
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antitubercular Agents* / therapeutic use
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Humans
  • Tuberculosis / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant* / drug therapy

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents