ANU contribution to new guidelines on the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis

27 March 2019

ANU contribution to new guidelines on the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis

The World Health Organization (WHO) released new guidelines on the treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis on 21 March, to coincide with World TB Day on 24 March. World TB Day commemorates the day that the German physician, Robert Koch discovered the TB bacillus, in 1882. Dr Kerri Viney from the Research School of Population Health assisted in the preparation of the new WHO guidelines which recommend improvements to the treatment of multidrug resistant TB. In the guidelines, WHO recommends that national TB programs shift to fully oral regimens for the treatment of multidrug resistant TB. This should be accompanied by active monitoring for adverse events, with patient support to help patients complete treatment.

“The recommendations in these guidelines represent a significant advancement in the treatment of multidrug resistant TB for patients worldwide” said Dr Viney. “Now, patients can benefit from all oral regimens without the need for months of injections and potentially debilitating side effects; it marks an important advancement in patient care and I was very pleased to contribute to the drafting of these guidelines” she added.

The World Health Organization estimates that there were approximately 558,000 new cases of multidrug resistant TB in 2017. Only 55% of patients who receive treatment currently experience a successful outcome. It is anticipated that treatment outcomes will improve with the use of the newly recommended regimens. Additional information about drug resistant TB is available on the World Health Organization website

The theme of this year’s World TB Day is “it’s time to end TB.”  “It is definitely time” said Dr Viney, “to end the suffering caused by TB. By working in partnership with staff in TB endemic countries, with other researchers and with technical organisations such as the World Health Organization, I hope that I can do my part to end TB as a global public health problem.”