New TB treatment breakthroughs must reach those in-need without delay

Shobha Shukla – CNS
Contd from previous issue
Shorter and more effective treatment for drug-resistant TB
Science has proven that it is possible to reduce the duration of treatment of highly drug-resistant forms of TB from around 2 years to 6 months, reduce the toxic side effects of the medicines and significantly improve treatment outcomes.
But first, let us understand why do we need new medicines and why do older medicines stop being affective against disease-causing germs, such as, TB bacteria? Antimicrobial resistance, also known as drug resistance, makes an infectious agent (such as the TB causing bacteria) resistant to medicines. So, when TB bacteria become resistant to a medicine, they cannot be killed by it.   (To be contd)