Anti-Tuberculosis Treatment

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious, potentially fatal disease most commonly affecting the lungs. It can also spread through the blood stream to any part of the body, including the spine, brain or kidneys. Tuberculosis can cause actively dangerous infections, as well as infections that stay latent in the body for months or years. Treatment of the disease depends on the type of infection present.

Treating Latent Tuberculosis

• Most people infected with tuberculosis bacteria do not develop active cases of TB. Instead, their immune systems combat the bacteria successfully enough to avoid full-blown disease. Latent TB poses no immediate health problems, and presents no outward signs of infection. It also cannot be passed on to other people. However, it still presents a very real danger.

  If you have a latent TB infection, your body may be able to curtail the tuberculosis bacteria, but on its own it cannot eliminate them. Instead, some bacteria remain at the site of infection. If in the following months or years your immune system is compromised by another illness or health problem, those latent TB bacteria may become active, producing full-blown TB.

  Because of this danger, doctors treat latent tuberculosis as seriously as active cases. If you test positive for latent TB, your doctor will likely put you on a drug regimen meant to destroy the dormant bacteria. Typically, the medication used is isoniazid, a compound taken orally twice a week for a nine-month period.

  While isoniazid is effective in killing TB bacteria, it is also potentially dangerous, and unmonitored long-term use can cause severe or fatal liver damage. Symptoms of isoniazid problems include loss of appetite, lack of energy, weakness, upset stomach, vomiting, loss of energy, production of brown or yellow urine, and yellowing of the eyes or skin. If you experience any of these difficulties, let your doctor know immediately to avoid life-threatening complications.

Treating Active Tuberculosis

• Active TB can happen whenever the immune system is compromised, be it soon after initial infection or years later. If you have an active case, you may potentially infect others, and your doctor will likely hospitalize you for a couple of weeks to avoid that possibility. Treatment typically involves simultaneous doses of four different medications -- isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol and pyrazinamide -- taken for a period of six months to a year. All of these compounds are potentially dangerous to your liver, and can produce the same range of symptoms as isoniazid in isolation. Your doctor should monitor your condition to prevent complications, and may also modify treatment depending on how your case develops.

Drug-resistant Tuberculosis

• It is possible that your active tuberculosis may become resistant to one or more of your initial medications. If this happens, your doctor may consult with TB experts to determine a new mix of medications to treat you. Drug-resistant TB is typically far more difficult to eliminate, and your time of treatment may be increased up to two years or more.

  In latent and active TB cases, its vital that you take your full course of medication. Failure to do so increases your chances of developing a drug-resistant bacteria strain.