Tuberculosis - National Library of Medicine - PubMed Health

Evidence reviews

No trials on effectiveness of treatments to prevent latent tuberculosis from developing into active disease in people exposed to multipledrugresistant tuberculosis (MDRTB)

The emergence and spread of MDRTB, caused by strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to at least the common drugs used for TB (isoniazid and rifampicin), is a threat to people worldwide. Treatment of latent tuberculosis (infection without active disease) has been a key component in tuberculosis control for several decades. However, MDRTB is spreading and people are dying. This review of evidence found no randomized controlled trials that have assessed the effectiveness of treatments of latent tuberculosis infection in people exposed to MDRTB. Currently the balance of benefits and harms associated with treatment for latent tuberculosis infection in people exposed to MDRTB is far from clear. Drug treatments should only be offered within the context of a welldesigned randomized controlled trial, or where people are given the details of the current evidence on benefits or harms, along with the uncertainties.

There is insufficient evidence to compare equivalence of effect between fully intermittent and daily treatment in adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Rifampicincontaining drug combinations can achieve high cure rates in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis when given for six months. Such treatment can be given either daily or intermittently (eg three times a week) from the beginning. This review compared the equivalence of effect between such treatments but did not find enough evidence to be able to assess this.

No benefit from immunotherapy with Mycobacterium vaccae in people with tuberculosis

Injections that aim to influence a person's immune system have been used by doctors to lessen the chance of a person developing a disease, or sometimes to reduce the damage the disease does to the body. M. vaccae is a type of bacterium related to the one that causes tuberculosis. Scientists have wondered if injections of this could reduce the damage done to someone when they are infected with tuberculosis, and some early trials suggested this might be true. However, this overview involving eight trials identified that the research does not show any consistent effect of this injection on death or the course of tuberculosis illness. It may be that the early trials had methodological problems that led to false optimism about this intervention.

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Summaries for consumers

No trials on effectiveness of treatments to prevent latent tuberculosis from developing into active disease in people exposed to multipledrugresistant tuberculosis (MDRTB)

The emergence and spread of MDRTB, caused by strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to at least the common drugs used for TB (isoniazid and rifampicin), is a threat to people worldwide. Treatment of latent tuberculosis (infection without active disease) has been a key component in tuberculosis control for several decades. However, MDRTB is spreading and people are dying. This review of evidence found no randomized controlled trials that have assessed the effectiveness of treatments of latent tuberculosis infection in people exposed to MDRTB. Currently the balance of benefits and harms associated with treatment for latent tuberculosis infection in people exposed to MDRTB is far from clear. Drug treatments should only be offered within the context of a welldesigned randomized controlled trial, or where people are given the details of the current evidence on benefits or harms, along with the uncertainties.

There is insufficient evidence to compare equivalence of effect between fully intermittent and daily treatment in adult patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Rifampicincontaining drug combinations can achieve high cure rates in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis when given for six months. Such treatment can be given either daily or intermittently (eg three times a week) from the beginning. This review compared the equivalence of effect between such treatments but did not find enough evidence to be able to assess this.

No benefit from immunotherapy with Mycobacterium vaccae in people with tuberculosis

Injections that aim to influence a person's immune system have been used by doctors to lessen the chance of a person developing a disease, or sometimes to reduce the damage the disease does to the body. M. vaccae is a type of bacterium related to the one that causes tuberculosis. Scientists have wondered if injections of this could reduce the damage done to someone when they are infected with tuberculosis, and some early trials suggested this might be true. However, this overview involving eight trials identified that the research does not show any consistent effect of this injection on death or the course of tuberculosis illness. It may be that the early trials had methodological problems that led to false optimism about this intervention.

See all (73)

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