Four-month regimen recommended for drug-susceptible TB and six-month regimen recommended for drug-resistant TB
By Elana Gotkine and Farrokh Sohrabi, M.D. HealthDay Reporters
MONDAY, Jan. 13, 2025 (HealthDay News) — In a clinical practice guideline issued by the American Thoracic Society and published in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, updated recommendations are presented for the treatment of tuberculosis (TB) in children and adults.
Jussi J. Saukkonen, M.D., from the Boston Veterans Administration Health Care System, and colleagues updated clinical practice guidelines for TB treatment in children and adults in settings in which mycobacterial cultures, molecular and phenotypic drug susceptibility tests, and radiographic studies are available on a regular basis. The evidence was reviewed and recommendations made.
The authors note that new recommendations for drug-susceptible TB include use of a novel four-month regimen for individuals with pulmonary TB and a shortened four-month regimen, instead of the six-month regimen, for nonsevere TB in children. Use of novel regimens containing bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid with or without moxifloxacin are included as recommendations for drug-resistant TB. For adolescents aged 14 years and older and adults with rifampin-resistant pulmonary TB, a six-month bedaquiline, pretomanid, and linezolid regimen is as efficacious and safe as the current 15-month or longer regimen.
“There has been a quest and concerted effort to develop shorter treatments for TB, after decades of little drug development,” Saukkonen said in a statement. “With recent studies we have been able to shorten the regimen durations for both drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB for most patients, down to four and six months, respectively.”
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.
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