How does drug resistance happen?
Resistance to anti-TB drugs can occur when these drugs are misused or mismanaged. Examples include when patients do not complete their full course of treatment; when health care providers prescribe the wrong treatment, the wrong dose or length of time for taking the drugs; when the supply of drugs is not always available; or when the drugs are of poor quality.
Resistance to anti-TB drugs can occur when these drugs are misused or mismanaged. Examples include when patients do not complete their full course of treatment; when health-care providers prescribe the wrong treatment, the wrong dose, or length of time for taking the drugs; when the supply of drugs is not always available; or when the drugs are of poor quality.
Resistance to anti-TB drugs occurs when these drugs are misused or mismanaged. Such examples of misuse include when patients do not complete their full course of treatment; when health-care providers prescribe the wrong treatment, the wrong dose, or the length of time for taking the drugs; when the supply of drugs is not always available; or when the drugs are of poor quality. Who is at risk for getting MDR TB? Drug resistance TB is more common in people who (1) do not take their TB medicine regularly (2) do not take all of their TB medicine as told by their doctor or nurse (3) develop active TB disease again after having taken TB medicine in the past (4) come from areas of the world where drug-resistant TB is more common and (5) having spent time with someone known to have drug-resistant TB disease. How can MDR TB be prevented? The most important thing a person can do to prevent the spread of MDR TB is to take all of their medications as prescribed by their health care provider. They
Resistance to anti-TB drugs can occur when these drugs are misused or mismanaged. Examples include when patients do not complete their full course of treatment; when health-care providers prescribe the wrong treatment, the wrong dose, or length of time for taking the drugs; when the supply of drugs is not always available; or when the drugs are of poor quality. How is TB spread? Drug-susceptible TB and MDR TB are spread the same way. TB germs are put into the air when a person with TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs, sneezes, speaks, or sings. These germs can float in the air for several hours, depending on the environment. Persons who breathe in the air containing these TB germs can become infected. TB is not spread by • shaking someone’s hand • sharing food or drink • touching bed linens or toilet seats • sharing toothbrushes • kissing How does drug resistance happen? Resistance to anti-TB drugs can occur when these drugs are misused or mismanaged. Examples include when patient
The most common way it happens is when people miss medicine doses consistently. Often the virus will actually become resistant to the medicine, just the same way that, if you were given a treatment for an ear infection and didn’t take the antibiotic consistently, missing a lot of doses, then often the infection doesn’t respond as well to the antibiotic. You would then have to go on much more potent antibiotics and longer courses of treatment to cure the infection. How many people who are currently in treatment are experiencing drug resistance? In the study that we’re doing up here at our hospitals, we’re seeing about 30 percent of people with resistant virus. There’s a report that’s just coming out from UCLA. Their estimates are that in San Francisco, according to different analyses that they’ve used, by the year 2005, forty-two percent of all of the people in San Francisco who are HIV positive will not respond to current therapy.
