Pathophysiology Of Tuberculosis

Important Treatments for Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is dreaded by many because of the fact that it is highly contagious—most especially if the person is not taking any medications to treat the said disease. This disease is also called Koch’s Disease, owing to the one who discovered the condition, as well as Consumption Disease since it consumes the person’s body rendering him or her weak, frail and thin.

Pulmonary tuberculosis is caused by a certain microorganism called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It can spread through air and droplet contact. Ways by which TB bacteria can spread from person to person is through sneezing, coughing, spitting and the like. Pulmonary Tuberculosis infects a lot of people in the global count and is consistent to be among the top causes of morbidity and mortality.

Tuberculosis treatment mainly focuses on drug therapy. There are a lot of drugs which one need to take constantly in order to combat the progression of TB. The following drugs are most commonly prescribed to treat PTB:

-          Rifampicin

-          Isoniazid

-          Pyrazinamide

-          Ethambutol

-          Streptomycin

These drugs are known as the RIPES drugs for tuberculosis treatment. Like any other drugs, these medications also have their specific contraindications, side effects and special precautions. Of these five drugs, isoniazid is the most common and known to be one of the most effective in curing TB. Apart from that, this tuberculosis treatment is also economical. When used with the other drugs mentioned, Isoniazid becomes all the more potent.

Isoniazid is immediately prescribed in patients who have been known to have the following:

-          A history of close contact with another person infected with TB;

-          A positive mantoux test or PPD test for TB;

-          A positive chest X-ray which identified TB lesions; and

-          A tuberculin test which has become positive from negative over the past two years.

In the early days of tuberculosis treatment, Isoniazid and Rifampicin as considered the drugs of choice, however because over time, tuberculosis bacteria form resistance to drugs, these two drugs are combined with the rest of the three on the list.

Tuberculosis treatment using these drugs may range from as short as six months to as long as more than a year. Most often, it may depend on the stage of TB that a patient is diagnosed with.

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