Timely detected pulmonary tuberculosis can be cured over a period of time from 10 calendar months to 1.5 years. How long the treatment will last depends on the severity of the disease process and on the appointment of the most suitable individually selected drug.
Tuberculosis in our time is a treatable disease
In modern antibiotic therapy for tuberculosis, the combination of treatment is in the prerogative. This is because with the simultaneous receipt of different drugs, the resistance of microbacteria to the drug develops much slower. The patient is assigned for a course dose of 2 or 3 drugs at once. Fortunately, the possibilities of medicine are vast today. It can only be anti-TB drugs of the 1st row or their combined combination of formulations I and II.
The classification of anti-TB drugs is arranged according to the degree of their effectiveness. By the way, many thanks to our research institutes for the invention of such a medicine as Isoniazid. This is one of the main anti-TB drugs, its advantage is a very high bacteriostatic activity. Moreover, its administration in first-sick patients is especially effective.
Next on the list
The second most effective treatment after Isoniazid is Rifampicin. Also a wonderful and effective tool. The activity of the following drugs can be distributed in the following sequence: Streptomycin, Kanamycin, then Pyrazinamide, Ethionamide, followed by Protionamide, Ethambutol, and 3 more: Florimycin, Pask, anti-tuberculosis preparation "Thioacetasone".
All medicines affecting mycobacteria and helping to solve the clinical problems of patients were divided into groups of anti-TB drugs:
- first-line antibacterial anti-TB drugs,
- reserve drugs of the second row.
What are the differences between drugs 1 and 2
In the first row are the main medicines that claim the highest indicator of the effectiveness of chemotherapeutic agents and their derivatives. They have minimal toxicity.
2-row anti-TB drugs, which include reserve drugs, do not have such a high result in the fight against Koch's bacillus, while they are quite toxic. They are prescribed to patients if their body is immune to first-line drugs or intolerance to these medications is observed.
Sad statistics show that any drugs over time become addictive, that is, the effectiveness is significantly reduced. Also, the main anti-TB drugs after some time are addictive and therefore mycobacteria become immune to them. For example, if you take only one specific drug in isolation, then the resistance to it of mycobacteria is observed after 2-4 months.
Antituberculosis drugs: use and strength of exposure
The bulk of drugs for anti-tuberculosis attack bacteriostatically affects mycobacteria, that is, they reduce their virulence and inhibit the ability to multiply. Similarly, Isoniazid and Rifampicin in concentrated doses have the ability to act bactericidal. In order to obtain a persistent therapeutic effect, as well as to prevent and avoid potential relapses, the use of anti-TB drugs should last a long time.
For all this, the choice and purpose of the best combination of drugs, as well as the duration of their use, directly depends on the form of tuberculosis that was occurring in the patient at that time, on the means of the previous treatment (if any), on the patient's tolerability of certain medications, on how sensitive mycobacterium tuberculosis is to selected drugs.
Better compatibility
The combination of anti-TB drugs is planned on the basis that one or two first-line drugs must be present in the treatment program. Of course, if they do not have any contraindications or manifestations of resistance to them. In this case, the dose of all drugs taken, as a rule, does not decrease.
When prescribing (a memo of a phthisiologist), it should be borne in mind that such an anti-tuberculosis drug as streptomycin and its derivatives cannot be combined with florimycin, kanamycin and other antibiotics that have nephro- and ototoxic effects.
What is the drug "PASK"
"PASK" is an anti-tuberculosis drug with a bacteriostatic effect. May the days of the scientists of pharmacologists who created it last. Very active against tuberculous mycobacteria. Effective in the treatment of various forms and various localizations of tuberculosis. It gives an even better effect when other anti-TB drugs are combined with it in the appointment.
The drug has the Latin name "PASK-AKRI". It is produced either in 4 g sachets or in a 100 g can. One sachet of PASK contains 3.2 sodium aminosalicylate, and 1 g of sodium para-aminosalicylate in one tablet. The tablets are coated with a protective membrane for the stomach and are on sale packaged in 50/100/500/1000 pcs. packaged.
What is better to combine
The PASK anti-TB drug is inferior to such drugs as isoniazid and streptomycin in terms of tuberculostatic activity, and therefore it should be prescribed simultaneously with more active agents. Combination therapy slows down the development of drug resistance and enhances the effects of concomitant drugs.
Pharmacokinetics "PASK"
The drug has a high (90%) absorption. Metabolized in the liver. It can easily penetrate histohematological barriers and distribute in tissues. The highest concentration of the drug is observed in the lungs, kidneys and liver. More moderately, "PASK" (anti-TB drug) penetrates into the cerebrospinal fluid. But in the case of inflammation of the membranes in the cerebrospinal fluid, the concentration of aminosalicylic acid is 10-50% of its concentration in the blood plasma. Most (80%) of the drug is excreted mainly in the urine.
2nd row drugs
Antitumor drugs of the 2nd row, when properly selected and timely prescribed, have an excellent therapeutic effect, expressed in detoxification of the body, plus also a significant regression of inflammatory changes in the lung tissue, and also in the treatment of bronchial tuberculosis.
According to medical research, in the treatment of children and adults with complicated, chronic and destructive forms of tuberculosis with various combinations of drugs of series II, given the presence of clinical resistance and resistance of bacterial strains to drugs of series I in patients, 65 percent of cases were obtained, which is very pleasing additional clinical effect.
Anti-TB drugs: side effects
And, of course, those who take the drugs described in the article are interested in their possible side effects. Moreover, of the drugs introduced in recent years, anti-TB drugs deserve special consideration. This is due to the fact that this disease will soon cross the epidemiological threshold, despite a significant decrease in the incidence rate after World War II. It is also important that the treatment of tuberculosis, as mentioned above, the process is quite lengthy, and the negative effect of drugs is manifested either with an overdose of it, or with its long-term use.
Some statistics
In case of anti-tuberculosis therapy according to the records of foreign and domestic representatives of medicine, the side effects of the corresponding drugs and their incidence are as different as the nature of the course of the disease. For example, out of 3148 patients whose treatment involved drugs that are active against mycobacteria, only 12.2% of people had adverse reactions, most of them having allergic manifestations, and only 74 patients had toxic poisoning.
Based on published materials, it can be concluded that the observed side effects of anti-TB drugs vary in the frequency of reactions. Their large fluctuations are explained by heterogeneous treatment conditions, when not only the drugs used are important, but also the form of tuberculosis, as well as the age of the patients, even the types of medical institutions (hospital, sanatorium, clinic, institute).
Research continues
Medicines that are detrimental to Koch's bacillus include a number of natural and semi-synthetic compounds that have one common property - their activity against, that is, mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Antituberculosis drugs, the classification of which, as mentioned at the beginning of the article, divides the drugs into 2 rows (main and reserve), are of great interest to scientists.
Particular attention is paid to the development of resistance of tuberculous mycobacteria. All studies are conducted in a laboratory, and on this issue, the results showed that in most patients, the degree of drug resistance during treatment can vary both upward and downward, sometimes reaching almost complete restoration of sensitivity.
Reduction of adverse reactions
When side effects occur during treatment, first of all, reduce the dose of drugs or replace some drugs with others. In a severe case of a side reaction, an anti-tuberculosis drug is temporarily banned for use with subsequent replacement with another. In order to prevent and eliminate the symptoms of coronary insufficiency, the patient is prescribed depending on the indications of any of the drugs of a number of antispasmodics, for example: Eufillin, Papaverin, Teofedrin, Zelenin drops, etc.
The characteristics and severity of side effects during anti-TB treatment are quite diverse. Anti-TB drugs, the classification of specific manifestations of which are the same in chemical terms, are combined into one group to simplify research work.
Tuberculosis therapy
In the treatment of tuberculosis diseases in our time, an important task is also considered to prevent the spread of infection. The threat comes from patients with open pulmonary tuberculosis. Their intensive treatment will help in reducing the number of infected people, as well as in preventing new cases of this unpleasant disease.
Since the treatment is long, a lot of patience and self-discipline is required from the patient. After all, tuberculosis causes damage not only to the affected organ, but to the entire body as a whole. It is very important to start antimicrobial therapy in time, in which the most powerful artillery is used, that is, the main anti-TB drugs. Thanks to them, it is possible to stop bacillus excretion even in the early stages, which will contribute to the restoration of the affected organ with virtually no damage to the whole organism.
Comprehensive treatment, which will be prescribed taking into account the age and the revealed form of the disease, includes the impact on pathological processes in the diseased organ, a decrease in the level of concomitant symptoms (pain, cough) using inhalations and various physiotherapy methods.
The appointment of the prescribed group of medicines must be regular, as an unsystematic approach can cause the development of resistance to them. Treatment should be carried out in a hospital under the supervision of a doctor. After discharge, the supervision of a TB specialist is mandatory.
A serious approach and the implementation of all medical prescriptions and appointments is the key to complete recovery. Nowadays, tuberculosis is not a sentence.