Now, MDR-TB patients need to take medication only for nine months

Now, Multi Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients will need to take medicines for only nine months as against 24 months under the conventional treatment regimen.  This has become possible after the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) green signal to shorter and cheaper treatment regimen on May 12. The global health body also approved a new diagnostic test method that significantly brings down the time for diagnosing MDR-TB.

The shorter treatment, which promises better adherence to treatment and reduced loss in patient follow-up exercise, is expected to improve outcomes and reduce the number of deaths. The prolonged treatment of the conventional regimen have low cure rate as patients find it hard to keep taking drugs, which can be quite toxic, for  a long time. 

A tuberculosis case is called a MDR-TB when the patient is resistant to most effective anti-TB drugs. One of the primary reasons for MDR-TB is rampant administration of drugs, which has made bacteria causing TB resistant to drugs. 

“This is a critical step forward in tackling the MDR-TB public health crisis,” said Dr Mario Raviglione, director of WHO’s Global TB Programme.  

Dr Raviglione added, “The new WHO recommendations offer hope to hundreds of thousands of MDR-TB patients who can now benefit from a test that quickly identifies eligibility for the shorter regimen and then complete treatment in half the time and at nearly half the cost.”

According to the WHO, globally 5 per cent of TB cases were estimated to have had multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) in 2014.