The most widely used tuberculosis drugs If you have latent tuberculosis, you may only require one or two types of TB medications. Active TB will necessitate the use of many medications at the same time, especially if the strain is drug-resistant. Isoniazid is one of the most often used drugs to treat TB. It can be taken by itself or in combination with other medications.
Isoniazid prevents the growth and spread of TB bacteria within people who have the disease but aren't taking medication. This is important because once someone has been infected with TB bacteria, they could go on to infect others even years later. Isoniazid must be taken daily for six months to prevent this from happening. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, irritability, and jitteriness.
Rifampin works by killing the mycobacteria bacteria that cause TB. It must be used together with other medications or alone if the bacteria are resistant to rifampin. Common side effects include nausea, vomiting, rash, dry skin, headache, dizziness, anxiety, irritability, depression, and sleep problems.
Ethambutol inhibits the growth of bacteria cells that are responsible for causing TB. It is used along with other medications when treating people with multidrug-resistant TB. Side effects include nausea, vomiting, irritability, and drowsiness.
Pyrazinamide kills both growing and dormant TB bacteria.
If you have tuberculosis, you will need to take many medications. This is due to the large number of microorganisms that must be eliminated. Taking various medications also helps to keep germs from becoming drug resistant and, as a result, considerably more difficult to cure. If you have TB of the lungs, also known as pulmonary TB, you are most likely infectious. You can spread the disease by coughing or sneezing. If you have TB of the spine or bones, it may cause serious problems with your nerves. You may lose use of your arms or legs due to nerve damage from TB infection. Nerve damage can also lead to paralysis.
There are two main types of antibiotics used to treat TB: isoniazid and rifampin. Isoniazid is used to treat TB of the lungs. Rifampin is used to treat TB of the spine or bones. There are also other drugs used to treat different parts of the bacteria. All together, these medications kill both the old and new forms of the bacterium, allowing the body to start building up immunity against it.
TB is not easy to get over because it requires multiple medications for the whole life time. However, this is necessary because it is such a dangerous disease. Without treatment, people with active TB can pass on the disease to others via coughs or sneezes. This is why it is important to seek medical help as soon as possible if you think you may have TB.
You will be on these medications for at least 6 to 9 months. This is due to the fact that it takes at least 6 months for all of the germs to perish. Isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide are the most often used drugs to treat tuberculosis. Take your medication precisely as directed for the duration of the prescription. If you stop taking your pills, the infection will return.
There are two ways to kill TB bacteria: by using antibiotics and by getting rid of the source of infection. The four main drugs used to treat tuberculosis are isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. Isoniazid is the only drug that kills both active TB bacteria and the dormant ones inside cells called mycobacteria. Active TB can be cured with just four drugs for six to nine months, depending on how many organs are affected. However, it can't be cured if the disease has only been detected recently or if there are more than one type of TB bacterium in the body.
The other three drugs also work by killing mycobacteria but they also destroy healthy cells along with the bad ones. People who take these drugs regularly may experience some side effects including nausea, diarrhea, irritability, fatigue, depression, and skin reactions at the site of injection. Some patients may require a dose adjustment or change in drug class because they are allergic to isoniazid or rifampin.
The following drugs are used to treat latent tuberculosis infection: Rifapentine (RPT) Rifampin (INH) Rifampin (INH) Rifampin (INH) Rifampin (INH) Rifampin (INH) Rif (RIF) Isoniazid (INH)
Latent tuberculosis infection is the state of having been infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis but not showing any signs and symptoms of the disease. Only 10% of people with latent tuberculosis will develop active tuberculosis if they are not treated. The other 90% are asymptomatic and cannot be diagnosed by standard tests.
People can become latently infected with M. tuberculosis through exposure to an infected person's secretions or excretions. Infectious droplets generated when a person with pulmonary tuberculosis coughs, sneezes, or talks may contain mycobacteria. A person can also become latently infected if he or she ingests food or drink that has been contaminated with these droplets. Latent infections do not cause symptoms and cannot be detected by standard blood tests; rather, the only way to know if someone is infected is by performing a skin test or looking for antibodies in his or her blood.
People who are latently infected and then exposed to the bacteria again become susceptible to developing active tuberculosis.
Isoniazid-INH in combination with three additional drugs—rifampin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol—is the most often used therapy for active TB. Although you may feel better within a few weeks of starting the drugs, treating tuberculosis takes much longer than treating other bacterial infections. You will need to take isoniazid for at least six months after finishing the other medications to be sure that any bacteria remaining in your body are dead.
In addition, there are several other drugs that have been shown to be effective against TB but they are used only during periods of treatment when isoniazid is being administered.
The current standard treatment for drug-sensitive TB consists of a series of phases called treatments. There are different treatments depending on which organs of the body are affected.
For example, if you have pulmonary (lung) TB, then you will undergo a sequence of treatments called chemotherapy. If you have extrapulmonary (body organ) TB, then you will undergo a different sequence of treatments called surgery or medicine.
Both types of treatments work by killing the mycobacteria and allowing the host's immune system to kill any remaining bacteria. The goal is to make as many of these bacteria dead so that none can grow back again. This ensures that the infection does not come back even after you stop taking the drugs.
When two or more medications with documented in vitro susceptibility are administered simultaneously, each helps inhibit the formation of tubercle bacilli resistant to the other. Four-drug therapy is the gold standard for starting treatment for tuberculosis. It involves taking three antibiotics at once that kill both drug-sensitive and -resistant bacteria.
The goal of treating tuberculosis is to prevent the spread of the disease and to stop the development of any symptoms while waiting for the course of anti-TB drugs to take effect. This can take between six months and two years depending on how many bacteria are in your system and what kind they are. During this time, it is important to take all of your medication every day exactly as prescribed. If you miss a dose of any drug, the bacteria will still be killed by another drug in the combination, so there is no need to worry about resistance developing if you skip a dose.
It is very important not to stop taking your medications without first talking to your doctor. Stopping treatment too soon may allow some TB bacteria to become drug-resistant and lead to further infections. On the other hand, continuing treatment for too long may cause side effects from one or more of the drugs. In either case, following the instructions below will help ensure a good response to treatment.
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