WHO Announces New Test and Treatment for Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis
The World Health Organization recently announced new developments for the treatment of tuberculosis and it's meant to speed up detection and improve treatment outcomes. According to a report by Medscape, the new recommendations is designed specifically for patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). It's said to be cheaper and shorter compared to the present that can last up to two years.
As detailed in WHO's website, the new treatment regimen can now be completed within just nine to 12 months only. The current one is a very long one for patients to be able to comply or complete all through out.. It is also found out that the long duration plan yields low cure rates, which is just 50 percent on average globally.
But with the new and shorter regimen, WHO expects better outcomes and potentially decrease the number of deaths. The new treatment plan is also cheaper. The expense per patient will now be less than $1000 per patient. As said by Dr. Mario Raviglione, Director of WHO's Global TB Program, the new regimen is a "critical step forward" in dealing with the MDR-TB public health crisis.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
WHO is recommending patients with uncomplicated MDR-TB to take this new treatment course as they are the ones who can most benefit from it. Patients with MDR-TB who are not resistant to the most essential drugs used to treat the disease are particularly recommended, as well as those who have never been treated with second-line drugs before. Not everyone will be able to benefit this short regimen, though. As noted in The Times of India, patients living in Mumbai will have to continue with the conventional regimen because of the widespread antibiotic resistance.
As for the new diagnostic test for ruling out resistance to second-line drugs, WHO recommends the novel diagnostic test called MTBDRsI which is a DNA-based test that determines genetic mutations in MDR-TB strains. This will give results within just 24 to 48 hours, a faster alternative to the current one which is three months or longer.
"We hope that the faster diagnosis and shorter treatment will accelerate the much-needed global MDR-TB response," said Dr. Karin Weyer, Coordinator of Laboratories, Diagnostics and Drug Resistance, WHO Global TB Programme.
