Tuberculosis treatment
Overview
Therapy
This is a list of types of therapy .* Adventure therapy* Animal-assisted therapy* Aquatic therapy* Aromatherapy* Art and dementia* Art therapy* Authentic Movement* Behavioral therapy* Bibliotherapy* Buteyko Method* Chemotherapy...
of the infectious disease
Infectious disease
Infectious diseases, also known as communicable diseases, contagious diseases or transmissible diseases comprise clinically evident illness resulting from the infection, presence and growth of pathogenic biological agents in an individual host organism...
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
(TB).
The standard "short" course treatment for TB is isoniazid
Isoniazid
Isoniazid , also known as isonicotinylhydrazine , is an organic compound that is the first-line antituberculosis medication in prevention and treatment. It was first discovered in 1912, and later in 1951 it was found to be effective against tuberculosis by inhibiting its mycolic acid...
, rifampicin
Rifampicin
Rifampicin or rifampin is a bactericidal antibiotic drug of the rifamycin group. It is a semisynthetic compound derived from Amycolatopsis rifamycinica ...
(also known as rifampin in the United States), pyrazinamide
Pyrazinamide
Pyrazinamide is a drug used to treat tuberculosis. The drug is largely bacteriostatic, but can be bacteriocidal on actively replicating tuberculosis bacteria.-Abbreviations:...
, and ethambutol
Ethambutol
Ethambutol is a bacteriostatic antimycobacterial drug prescribed to treat tuberculosis. It is usually given in combination with other tuberculosis drugs, such as isoniazid, rifampicin and pyrazinamide....
for two months, then isoniazid and rifampicin alone for a further four months. The patient is considered cured at six months (although there is still a relapse rate of 2 to 3%). For latent tuberculosis
Latent tuberculosis
Also called latent tuberculosis infection, latent TB or LTBI.Latent tuberculosis is where a patient is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but does not have active tuberculosis disease. Patients with latent tuberculosis are not infectious, and it is not possible to get TB from someone with...
, the standard treatment is six to nine months of isoniazid alone.
If the organism is known to be fully sensitive, then treatment is with isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide for two months, followed by isoniazid and rifampicin for four months.
