‘It’s very gratifying’: Pair of studies raise hopes for safer treatment of latent tuberculosis
"It was safer. It was completed better. And the incidence of active TB was the same or even slightly lower. We honestly couldn't ask for better."
Treatment of latent tuberculosis has never been a simple affair.
Nine months of a drug known as isoniazid, taken daily, is the standard of care and can help clear the infection. But it also causes liver damage in a fairly significant percentage of cases.
Now, researchers say, a pair of studies that were conducted across multiple countries have shown that four months of therapy with another drug, rifampin, is as effective as the standard of care. Furthermore, the shorter course of treatment meant patients were more likely to follow the regimen to the end.
“This is something I
