Question

1. Select one infectious disease (e.g. malaria, TB, or HIV).

• What are the concerns for drug resistance for malaria, TB, or HIV?
• How can resistance be kept to a minimum?

Answer 1

Infectious Disease selected : Tuberculosis (TB)

What are the concerns for drug resistance for TB?

The most critical concern as per WHO and global TB surveillance study is the Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB). There have been approximately 558,000 MDR-TB cases since 2017 and mortality rate of the same is a major concern as the treatment and vaccination againts MDR-TB is a formidable aspect. MDR-TB is the result of multi-drug treatment approach, improper patient management, uncontrollable new cases and non inform quality of drug and related medications. The other concerns for TB is although national programs are announced but implementation and case management is difficult as lack of access to healthcare, treatment costs and duration, economic and social aspects of treatment are other critical challenges for drug resistant TB. Also, availability and effectiveness of single or fixed combination of the TB medications is not inform and it has resulted in the rise of MDR-TB as even more formidable challenge critical for TB eradication.

How can resistance be kept minimum?

Resistance mainly occurs due to the multi-drug treatment used and a non uniformity in the prescription and administration of the TB medications. The other aspect of keeping resistance to a minimum is critical surveillance over adherace to treatment and completion of the treatment duration and medication dose. By using the standard medication at the global level to all affectes individuals and impetus on completion of therapy will be crucial for the TB resistance to be kept at the minimum levels.