Medical Officer (Doctor) P/Time/20-40 h/p/week FTC it-online.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from it-online.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Treatment of drug-resistant TB in South Africa has been transformed over the past decade.
Most people with the illness no longer have to have daily injections, and treatment is often completed in nine months, compared with 18 to 24 months in the past.
Perhaps most important is that fewer people are dying of drug-resistant TB, and there is less hearing loss, a common side effect of the injections used in the past.
Key to this transformation in our public sector has been the roll-out of the antibiotics, bedaquiline and linezolid.
These two drugs, plus another two, in some cases even four or five, make up drug-resistant TB treatment today.
Treatment of drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis (DR-TB) in South Africa has been transformed over the last decade. Most people with DR-TB no longer have to take daily injections and treatment is often completed in nine months, compared to 18-24 months in the past. Maybe most importantly, fewer people are dying of DR-TB and fewer people are suffering hearing loss, a common side effect of injections used in the past.
Key to this transformation in our public sector has been the rollout of the antibiotics bedaquiline and linezolid. These two drugs plus another two, or in some cases even another four or five, make up DR-TB treatment in South Africa today. Broadly speaking, the more resistant someone’s TB has become, the more complicated the treatment combination and the longer the treatment lasts. But that may be about to change with a new three-drug regimen taken for just six months.
Makhosandile Zulu Nelisiwe Ngcobo was part of a study of the BPaL regimen treatment after enduring a very, very difficult treatment course. A scientist in 2018 in France studies tuberculosis, a multidrug-resistant form of which could require a shorter treatment plan than previously, according to a 2019 study in a US journal. Picture: AFP/File/Anne-Christine Poujoulat
A clinical programme will enrol 400 people in South Africa for treatment with a three-drug, six-month, all-oral regimen of bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid, known as the BPaL regimen, that has been shown to demonstrate a favourable outcome in 90% of patients of highly drug-resistant forms of TB.
South Africa: Patients in South Africa to Access Six-Month, All-Oral Treatment for Highly Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.