A 26-week treatment of 109 XDR-TB and MDR-TB patients with three oral drugs — bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid — showed 90% success rate. There were seven deaths and two had a relapse during the six-month follow-up period. A small trial (Nix-TB) undertaken at three sites in South Africa to test the safety and efficacy of … Continue reading Trial shows success in treating drug-resistant TB
MDR-TB
Pretomanid: XDR-TB may soon become easily treatable
Though the total number of people with XDR-TB and treatment intolerant or non-responsive MDR-TB who will require the new anti-TB drug Pretomanid may not be high, these are people who have very little alternative treatment options that are both safe and efficacious. Unlike in the case of bedaquiline, pretomanid might become affordable. The anti-tuberculosis drug … Continue reading Pretomanid: XDR-TB may soon become easily treatable
Explainer: What makes the new drug-resistant TB medicine Pretomanid promising
When used in combination with bedaquiline and linezolid, the newly approved pretomanid drug for MDR-TB and XDR-TB had an overall treatment success rate of about 90%. Besides better effectiveness, the duration of treatment is just six months. Treating drug-resistant tuberculosis — multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) — got a shot in the … Continue reading Explainer: What makes the new drug-resistant TB medicine Pretomanid promising
Majority of MDR-TB cases in India due to direct transmission: Lancet
While India has set a highly ambitious target of “eliminating TB by 2025”, modelling studies published today say incidence and mortality will reduce by just 57% and 72% respectively by 2035. Ten percent of people with TB die or self-cure before presenting for care. Patient delay before first presentation for care is 4.1 months. Majority … Continue reading Majority of MDR-TB cases in India due to direct transmission: Lancet
Small DNA-based inhibitor blocks entry of TB bacteria into host cells
A team of researchers from three institutions in India has used aptamer-based inhibitor that binds to the HupB protein found on TB bacteria cell surface to significantly inhibit the entry of the bacteria into host cells. The researchers are now trying to deliver the aptamer into TB bacterial cell. If successful, it will make the … Continue reading Small DNA-based inhibitor blocks entry of TB bacteria into host cells
MDR-TB treatment gets a boost with the inclusion of bedaquiline in the fully-oral regimen
In a “rapid communication”, WHO has informed all member States to take “immediate steps” to ensure that all injectables are replaced with a fully-oral regimen that includes bedaquiline to treat all MDR-TB patients. The guidelines, to be published later this year, are based on assessment of new evidence on the safety and efficacy of bedaquiline … Continue reading MDR-TB treatment gets a boost with the inclusion of bedaquiline in the fully-oral regimen
WHO revises advice on use of delamanid drug in MDR-TB patients
In a Phase III trial, delamanid drug was found to be safe but the cure rate and mortality rate were not different between the group that received the delamanid drug for MDR-TB and the group that received a placebo. The culture conversion rate too did not show statistically significant difference at two or six months. … Continue reading WHO revises advice on use of delamanid drug in MDR-TB patients
A glimmer of hope as India’s war on TB gets more funding
There is a glimmer of hope with India registering a slight drop in the number of new tuberculosis cases and TB deaths in 2016 compared with 2015. From an estimated 2.84 million new cases in 2015, the number dropped marginally to 2.79 million in 2016, according to the World Health Organisation’s Global tuberculosis report, 2017. … Continue reading A glimmer of hope as India’s war on TB gets more funding
A looming threat of tuberculosis in children
The RNTCP guidelines on contact screening are heeded mostly in the breach. About 5,500 of over 76,000 children tested in nine Indian cities have been diagnosed with tuberculosis, 9% of them with multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), highlighting the silent spread of the disease. Though the actual prevalence of MDR-TB among children in India is not known, … Continue reading A looming threat of tuberculosis in children
IISc researchers’ quest to make a common antibiotic more effective against TB
Bacteria develop resistance against a drug only when they are exposed to it or when the drug is misused. But now, a team of researchers from India has found whether and how drug resistance can develop against a candidate drug called Augmentin even before the drug is approved for treating patients with drug-resistant TB. The … Continue reading IISc researchers’ quest to make a common antibiotic more effective against TB
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