What is drug-resistant TB?
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by germ Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The disease spreads when a person sneezes, coughs, or breathes out. It can become drug-resistant if the infected TB patient fails to complete his treatment fully, takes improper medicines, or consumes prescribed medications improperly.
This form of tuberculosis is resistant to at least one of the standard anti-TB drugs. In case of multidrug-resistant, TB (MDR TB), more than one anti-TB drug, commonly both Isoniazid (INH) and Rifampin (RIF), fails to cure the disease.
Why is MDR TB more dangerous?
MDR TB is many times more dangerous than common form of TB, as it is more difficult to treat the disease. Secondly, as the patient remains infectious for quite a while, it also threatens the health of the public and the healthcare professionals. If complicated by HIV/AIDS, MDR TB badly affects the health and the immune system of patients, who may perhaps die within a few weeks.
The dangerous data
According to health officials, Speaker's is not an isolated case. The extremely resistant form of the disease has been observed in 37 countries. About 420,000 new cases of tuberculosis in the world today are resistant to many standard anti-tuberculosis drugs, says Dr. Mario C. Raviglione. Dr. Raviglione is in charge of the WHO's tuberculosis department. Furthermore, every year another 400,000 TB cases turn up which do not respond to two or more standard antibiotics. Of these, reports WHO experts, 25,000 to 30,000 patients are suffering from extremely drug-resistant TB, or XDR TB.
Treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis
It is quite complicated to treat and cure drug-resistant TB. Inappropriate case handling can threaten the patient's life. Drug-resistant TB needs close consultation with an expert in the disease. Drug-susceptibility testing proves drug resistance. As this testing takes a long time, doctors should start the treatment immediately with an empirical treatment regimen as soon as they suspect the drug-resistant TB. Once the test results are known, necessary changes in the treatment regimen can be made. It is advisable to monitor the patient thoroughly, preferably through directly observed therapy (DOT), to make adherence a certainty.
How can we prevent the transmission of MDR TB?
The following guidelines developed by the public health agency of Canada, Health Canada, can be of great use in preventing the transmission of MDR TB:
- Early detection of TB
- Prompt isolation and treatment of patients
- Educating healthcare workers about TB
- Screening healthcare workers for TB
- Implementing effective work practices, including wearing proper respiratory protection
- Preventing the spread of infectious droplets into the air by using appropriate exhaust ventilation
- Controlling the direction of air flow to prevent air contamination adjacent to the infectious source
- Diluting the air through general ventilation
- Cleaning the air through air filtration
