Tuberculosis treatment: Current recommendations
Tuberculosis is one of the most important infectious diseases worldwide. Treatment is lengthy and challenging. Doctors and scientists at the DZIF Clinical Center for Tuberculosis develop new therapies, treat patients and advise colleagues throughout Germany. A summary of the current status of tuberculosis treatment has now been published in the renowned journal New England Journal of Medicine.
Over nine million people contract tuberculosis (TB) each year; 1.5 million die from its complications. The disease, formerly popularly known as “consumption”, is caused by bacteria and transmitted via droplet infection through coughing. Tuberculosis symptoms can take as long as a year to develop after infection. It is treated with a combination of different antibiotics which have to be taken over many months. Tuberculosis treatment is especially complicated by the spread of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis strains. Side effects, high treatment costs and a lack of information frequently lead to discontinuation of treatment.
The DZIF Clinical Center for Tuberculosis at the Research Center Borstel closely links basic tuberculosis research to clinical applications, and is one of the leading medical establishments in this field. It is also specialised in treating multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). “We are increasingly using individually tailored antibiotic treatment regimens,” explains Dr Christoph Lange, Medical Director of Clinical Infectious Diseases in Borstel and Professor of International Health/Infectious Diseases at the Universität zu Lübeck.
The scientists have now published a summary of the latest treatment options. With an interactive graphic, doctors from all over the world can find appropriate treatment for different treatment situations. Besides this, Professor Lange and his team of six doctors offer comprehensive clinical consultation services for questions on tuberculosis and diseases caused by nontuberculous mycobacteria (+ 49 4537/188 2110). They have established national TB online platform (dzif.fz-borstel.de) with support from the DZIF, which provides consultation services for treating patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.
“In Germany, tuberculosis has become rare. However, especially poorer countries and regions of crisis need our involvement and commitment, because they have a lack of resources to fight tuberculosis and cure people,” explains Christoph Lange. The doctor and scientist is certain “Our doctors here will also be encountering this disease more frequently again owing to the refugee situation.”
