EXTENSIVELY DRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS

EXTENSIVELY DRUG-RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS

Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis also known as XDR-TB is a type of tuberculosis caused by microorganisms  that are resistant to some of the most powerful anti-tuberculosis drugs. XDR tuberculosis strains have emerged after the malpractice of people with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis

Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis raises concerns of a future tuberculosis epidemic with limited treatment alternatives and risks the significant gains made in tuberculosis control and advancement on lessening TB deaths among individuals living with HIV/AIDS. It is subsequently essential that TB control be managed appropriately and new  drugs developed to diagnose, prevent, and medicate the disease.

SYMPTOMS

XDR-TB symptoms are no different from regular or drug-susceptible TB:

  • Chills
  • Weight loss
  • Fever
  • Night sweats
  • Muscle weakness and fatigue
  • A cough with dark, cloudy mucus (or sputum), often with blood for more than two weeks
  • Shortness of breath and chest pressure in some cases 

DIAGNOSIS

XDR-TB successful diagnosis relies upon the patient’s access to quality medical care services. If the tuberculosis bacteria are found in the sputum, the conclusion of TB can be made in a day or two, however, this finding won’t have the option to recognize between drug-resistance TB and drug-susceptible TB. To assess drug susceptibility, the bacteria should be developed and tried in an appropriate research laboratory. The final diagnosis in this way for  tuberculosis may take from 6 weeks to four months.

DST or Drug Susceptibility Test was the first system used to test XDR-TB. DST is equipped for determining how well the four essential antitubercular drugs limit the development of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis. 

 Ethambutol, Isoniazid, Pyrazinamid and Rifampin are the four essential antitubercular drugs. DST is done by making a Lowenstein-Jensen medium plate and spreading the microorganism on the plate. Disks containing one of the four essential medications are added to the plate. After how many weeks of permitting the bacteria to develop, the plate is checked for clean areas around the disks. If there is a clean area, the medication has killed the bacteria, and probably that bacteria are not resistant to the drug used.

TREATMENT

Treatment for XDR-TB is the same as MDR-TB. Treatment requires broad chemotherapy for as long as two years and second-line drugs are more toxic than the standard anti-tuberculosis regimen. 

Patients are admitted for a long time in isolation. Furthermore, second-line medicines are very costly compared with medications for standard TB treatment.

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