Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the bacterium responsible for tuberculosis disease. You may have heard of tuberculosis, but you may not have known that it is one of the top 10 causes of death worldwide, according to the World Health Organization as referenced by a recent Health Essentials post. M. tubercolosis is an airborne pathogen that infects the lungs and causes chest pain, fever, chills, loss of appetite and death. The Health Essentials post also mentions that tuberculosis, or TB, is only really prevalent in developing countries because of lack of proper healthcare. In America and other developed nations, the TB vaccine and antibiotics are effective enough to prevent a strong prevalence of tuberculosis. Here comes the bad news. Recently, there has been a rise of antibiotic-resistant TB that has increased the number of cases, spread, and fatality rates of the disease. This is yet another example of the dangers that can arise with antibiotic use.
A few blog posts ago, I discussed antibiotic resistance in general terms (go read that post if you haven’t already!) and its effects on the healthcare industry. The emerging threat of multi drug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) is an issue that could potentially have no true cure. Lets backtrack a little. Tuberculosis is almost always treated with the antibiotic Isoniazid, according to a recently updated article by the American Lung Association. According to the article, TB treatment ranges from 6 to 9 months and typically encompasses a few different drugs like rifampin or ethambutol (along with isoniazid) which, as you can imagine, is a lot of coins. Considering today’s rising price of healthcare and insurance, most people can literally not afford to get a disease like this. So, why might MDR-TB arise? Well, taking multiple drugs at a time for a long period of time can result in accidentally taking the medicine incorrectly or simply having resistant bacteria survive the treatment and replicate-all things discussed in my antibiotic resistance blog post.
An article by the European Respiratory Journal notes that recent antibiotic resistance in strains of M. tuberculosis suggests the need for a revamped treatment regimen. The article mentions that this resistance is not only affecting patient’s chances of survival, but treatment for MDR-TB and XDR-TB is costly and could potentially permanently damage the sight or hearing of patients. I appreciate that disclaimer because I think it’s very important to get the message of RISKS across. Perhaps if more people truly knew about the life-changing risks associated with most diseases and their treatment, vaccines and prevention would be taken more seriously. Just sayin…
To combat MDR-TB he World Health Organization suggests strictly oral (as oppose to injectable) regimes, according to a recent article by the World Health Organization. Based on recent studies, the WHO also suggests treatment with Fluoroquinolones and Bedaquiline drugs for longer periods of time. What I got from this article is that the WHO basically recommends longer and more indirect treatment to prevent or combat antibiotic resistant tuberculosis. The article also notes the importance of closely considering the patient’s age and condition prior to putting them on any regimen as well as closely monitoring the patient throughout the treatment. I think this is very important because each case of any disease effects people different; monitoring and assessing is crucial along with drug treatment.
Microbiology for Smarties 