martes, 26 de abril de 2011

Effectiveness of Four-Drug TB Treatment Confirmed

One of the biggest challenges in fighting tuberculosis comes from new drug-resistant strains of the disease. And one of the main reason those strains have developed is that TB patients often don't take their standard, 14-pill, course of medication as instructed. Now, as Vidushi Sinha reports, a new study finds that a simpler approach - combining four TB drugs into one pill - is just as effective in treating this global killer.

For about a decade now the World Health Organization has recommended treating tuberculosis by using a four-drug, fixed-dose combination of medication - which has the same amount of pharmaceutical ingredients as the 14 pills that have traditionally been used.

But the logic of fewer pills - a simpler routine for sick patients - has not yet sunk in among many doctors.

For a variety of reasons, health professionals treating TB have resisted prescribing fewer pills.

But a new study in the high-TB-incidence areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America confirms that the four-drug combination of pills is just as effective as the 14-pill regimen.

fuente: http://www.voanews.com/