Traditionally, patients with rifampicin-resistant (RR) or multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are treated with a combination of second-line drugs, usually for 18 months or more [1]. Recently, World Health Organization (WHO) recommended a shorter and cheaper treatment regimen for MDR-TB [2]. Standardized shorter MDR-TB regimen consists of seven drugs and a treatment duration of 9-12 month...

Susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is seriously limited by the time required to obtain results. We show that susceptibility testing of clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis can be accomplished rapidly with acceptable accuracy by using flow cytometry. The susceptibilities of 35 clinical isolates of M. tuberculosis to various concentrations of isoniazid, rifampin, and ethambutol ...

A 57-year-old male was diagnosed with mycobacterium tuberculoma and was treated with isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. Three weeks after initiation of treatment, he presented with fever and appetite loss. Chest radiograph showed diffuse micronodular shadows on both lung fields. High-resolution chest computed tomography findings were diffuse parenchymal micronodules in both lu...

The activity of seven antimicrobial agents (and five two-drug combinations and five three-drug combinations) was investigated against 37 clinical isolates of Mycobacterium avium recovered from blood cultures of AIDS patients. The susceptibility tests were performed in Middlebrook 7H12 broth using a radiometric method. MICs of amikacin, ciprofloxacin, clarithromycin, clofazimine, ethambutol, rif...

of retropharyngeal abscess or bony destruction. Sputum was negative for acid-fast bacilli on microscopy and culture. The results of blood cultures were negative. No other organism was seen on microscopy or cultured from the fluid aspirated from the neck. Treatment with azathioprine was stopped and prednisolone was continued at a dose of 15 mg a day. Treatment with daily intramuscular streptomyc...

AIM To report the clinical significance and treatment of Mycobacterium kansasii infection in the context of HIV disease. DESIGN/METHODS Retrospective case review of all isolates of M kansasii until June 1994. RESULTS Ten cases of M kansasii were isolated. All but one patient with this infection had clinical symptoms compatible with generalised infection. The majority had chest infections wi...

Isolates of Mycobacterium avium complex from five patients on longterm (3-5 yrs) anti-mycobacterial drug treatment were collected during the early and late phase of disease, and studied in vitro for their susceptibility to anti-mycobacterial drugs and drug-combinations. All isolates were resistant or moderately resistant to ethambutol, rifampicin and streptomycin when given singly; however, all...

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a major public health challenge, with an estimated 480000 new cases emerging globally each year [1]. Treatment success rates using the 20-month conventional World Health Organization (WHO) regimen have been low, being about 52% in 2013 [1]. Observational studies in Bangladesh and several African countries have shown success rates of 84% using a short...

Therapeutic drug monitoring may be useful in tuberculosis management, but programmatic implementation is understudied. We performed a retrospective cohort study to determine prevalence of lower than expected levels of isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide measured at time of estimated peak serum concentration. Patients were tested for serum concentration at 2 hours after medication ...

Although numerous antimicrobial agents have been used to treat disseminated Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection, the optimal therapy for this disease is unknown. One potentially effective agent is rifabutin, which has demonstrated activity against MAC both in vitro and in animal models of infection. In clinical trials, cultures of blood from 46% to 92% of patients become sterile after t...