Treatment of drug-resistant TB in South Africa has been transformed over the past decade.
Most people with the illness no longer have to have daily injections, and treatment is often completed in nine months, compared with 18 to 24 months in the past.
Perhaps most important is that fewer people are dying of drug-resistant TB, and there is less hearing loss, a common side effect of the injections used in the past.
Key to this transformation in our public sector has been the roll-out of the antibiotics, bedaquiline and linezolid.
These two drugs, plus another two, in some cases even four or five, make up drug-resistant TB treatment today.
South-africa
Gauteng
Groote-schuur
Western-cape
Kwazulu
Eastern-cape
University-of-cape-town
Natal
Keertan-dheda
Nelisiwe-ngcobo
Lindsay-mckenna
Francesca-conradie
Treatment of drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (DR-TB) in South Africa has been transformed over the last decade. Most people with DR-TB no longer have to take daily injections and treatment is often completed in nine months, compared to 18-24 months in the past. Maybe most importantly, fewer people are dying of DR-TB and fewer people are suffering hearing loss, a common side effect of injections used in the past.
Key to this transformation in our public sector has been the rollout of the antibiotics bedaquiline and linezolid. These two drugs plus another two, or in some cases even another four or five, make up DR-TB treatment in South Africa today. Broadly speaking, the more resistant someone’s TB has become, the more complicated the treatment combination and the longer the treatment lasts. But that may be about to change with a new three-drug regimen taken for just six months.
South-africa
Gauteng
United-states
Groote-schuur
Western-cape
Kwazulu
Eastern-cape
University-of-cape-town
Natal
Keertan-dheda
Nelisiwe-ngcobo
Lindsay-mckenna