Update on the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

J A Caminero Luna

doi:10.1016/j.rce.2015.09.005

Update on the diagnosis and treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

Rev Clin Esp (Barc). 2016 Mar;216(2):76-84. doi: 10.1016/j.rce.2015.09.005. Epub 2015 Oct 20.

[Article in English, Spanish]

Author

J A Caminero Luna¹

Affiliation

¹ Servicio de Neumología, Hospital General de Gran Canaria Dr. Negrín , Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Gran Canaria, España; Unidad de Tuberculosis Multi-Drogo-Resistente (MDR-TB) de La Unión Internacional contra la Tuberculosis y Enfermedades Respiratorias. Electronic address: jcamlun@gobiernodecanaris.org.

PMID: 26494306
DOI: 10.1016/j.rce.2015.09.005

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the most important human infectious disease. Currently, the TB diagnosis is still based on the clinical presentation, radiographic findings and microbiological results; all of which have sensitivity or specificity issues. For that reason, the immediate future involves rapid molecular microbiological techniques, in particular GeneXpert (which is more sensitive than bacilloscopy and is able to detect rifampicin resistance) and GenoType. The current six-month treatment for TB has remained unchanged for decades. Attempts to shorten this treatment have failed. In recent years, new drugs have been reported that could contribute to TB treatment in the near future, and are already being used in multi-drug-resistance TB.

Keywords: Chemoprophylaxis; GeneXpert; Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis; Pulmonary tuberculosis; Quimioprofilaxis; Tuberculosis multirresistente; Tuberculosis pulmonar.