Treatment for Tuberculosis
By: Mark MonteiroTotal Views: 171, Word Count: 522,
Tuberculosis is a name of a disease which is basically an infection caused by different strains of mycobacteria from which commonly know stain is Mycobacterium tuberculosis. These bacteria attack the lungs along with other parts of the body. It gets spared in the air by sneeze, cough or can be transmitted through saliva in the air. Treatment of tuberculosis directly depends on the severity of infection and the symptoms present.
Most of the infections in humans are asymptomatic; if left untreated it can be life threatening.
Symptoms of Tuberculosis
Primary stage TB infection does not have any symptoms as such. When it gets converted to pulmonary TB, the symptoms appear as follows:
· Cough containing mucus
· Fever
· Sometimes coughing out blood
· Excessive sweating at night
· Fatigue
· Weight loss
· Breathing difficulty
· Chest pain
Treatment for Tuberculosis
Here are some importantly used medications mentioned which are taken with the doctor’s recommendation. Choice of medication depends on the severity of the disease.
First Line Drug Treatment
In case of first line treatment, anti-tuberculous drugs are used. These drugs are mentioned as below:
· Ethambutol is EMB or E
· Isoniazid is INH or H
· Pyrazinamide is PZA or Z
· Rifampicin is RMP or R
· Streptomycin is STM or S
All these drug regimens are shortened in a standardized manner.
Second Line Drug Treatment
Here are six classes of second-line drugs used, so as to treat TB. These second line drugs may be less effective as compared to first-line drugs. It can also have side effects, but it cannot be available in developing countries.
- Aminoglycosides: e.g. Kanamycin (KM), Amikacin (AMK)
- Polypeptides: e.g. viomycin, capreomycin, enviomycin
- Fluoroquinolones: e.g. moxifloxacin (MXF), ciprofloxacin (CIP), levofloxacin
- Thioamides: e.g. Prothionamide and Ethionamide
- Cycloserine
- P-aminosalicylic acid (PAS or P)
Third Line Drug Treatment
Third line treatment contains third line drugs which may prove to be useful, but these are not on the list of WHO for SLDs. These are listed as below:
· Macrolides: e.g., clarithromycin (CLR)
· Rifabutin
· Linezolid (LZD)
· Thioridazine
· Thioacetazone (T)
· Arginine
· Vitamin D
· R207910
Third line drugs are medically not effective. In some cases, its efficiency is not proven. Along with this, Rifabutin is known to be effective in developing countries as it is not much expensive. From this we can say that the basic goal of this treatment is to heal the infection with drugs by fighting with the TB bacteria. Treatment of pulmonary TB involves a mixture of many drugs. So it is needed to take different drugs at different times. Treatment for tuberculosis may be designed for at least for 6 months or longer. If one does not take the drug at proper times, then it becomes difficult to treat the infection. In case of severity, patients can be admitted to a hospital for 2 - 4 weeks, so as to avoid spreading of the disease. All these treatments for tuberculosis have the ability to reduce the infection and slowly cure the disease.
About the Author
Dr. Mark Monteiro is graduated from the Hazard University and done his MBA from the he University Of Illinois College Of Medicine. Currently he is working as general physician at Elmhurst Loyola Center for Health. For over 15 years he has been a pioneer in the field of physician health. He has contributed to the treatment of many diseases like- ASTHMA, TUBERCULOSIS, HIV, HEPATITIS AND ITS TREATMENT
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