The duration of tuberculosis treatment – Internet medicine
tuberculosis (tuberculosisIt is a serious infectious disease caused by a dangerous bacteria known as Mycobacterium tuberculosis.Mycobacterium tuberculosis) usually attack the lungs and can attack the kidneys, spine or brain. Fortunately, people with TB can be cured, but how long do you treat TB?
Duration of TB treatment
People with TB need to take several medications when starting treatment. The choice of drug and the duration of treatment depend on a variety of factors, including:
- the age.
- General health, and whether the patient has diseases such as diabetes, HIV or others.
- The location of the infection in the body.
- Possible resistance of bacteria against the drug.
There are several regimens available to treat TB, and treatment can last 4, 6, or 9 months depending on the regimen. In fact, most people with active TB disease need to take TB drugs for at least 6-9 months to ensure the TB bacteria are killed.
However, it should be noted that in cases of drug-resistant tuberculosis, different combinations of antibiotics are often used for 20-30 months, depending on the strain.
For people with latent tuberculosis, in some cases, the doctor can recommend drug treatment to the patient, and the duration of treatment is 3 months or 6 months, depending on the prescribed drugs.
Tuberculosis treatment regimens
Shorter regimens help patients complete treatment faster, but the doctor always chooses the most appropriate regimen for the patient based on the factors we mentioned earlier, and here are the most prominent treatment regimens:,
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Tuberculosis treatment regimen for 4 months
A 4-month rifapentine-moxifloxacin treatment regimen for drug-susceptible pulmonary tuberculosis. This regimen is based on giving the patient a high dose of rifapentine (rifapentine(with moxifloxacin)Moxifloxacin) and isoniazid (Isoniazid(in addition to pyrazinamide)Pyrazinamide).
The treatment is divided into two phases, the first intensive phase lasts two months and is followed by a continuation phase for two months and a week, so that the total treatment is 17 weeks.
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6 or 9 month treatment regimen
Treatment regimens of 6 or 9 months consist of the following drugs: rifampin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide (Pyrazinamide), and ethambutol (ethambutol).
Treatment regimens have an intensive phase of 2 months followed by a continuation phase of 4 or 7 months depending on the regimen, so the total duration of TB treatment is 6 or 9 months.