Antibiotic Effective for Multidrug-Resistant TB

A new antibiotic has proven to be effective for treating patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB), which is resistant to nearly all currently available TB treatments. The findings were presented at an international conference of the American Thoracic Society in Seattle (WA, USA).

The drug, linezolid (Zyvox), is a new class of antibiotics approved to treat certain strains of bacteria resistant to standard antibiotics such as penicillin, methicillin, and vancomycin but not drug-resistant TB. Doctors decided to try linezolid when all other therapies failed to improve the health of five patients in Bellevue Hospital (New York, NY, USA) The patients took the drug twice a day in pill form for nine to 33 months. Four patients also received interferon gamma three times a week. Following treatment, there was no sign of the TB microbe in sputum from the patients' lungs. Treatment was not associated with many severe side effects.

"Trying the linezolid was a real act of desperation,” said Timothy Harkin, M.D., assistant professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine and assistant director of Chest Service at Bellevue.” This certainly seems like a promising medication for multidrug-resistnat TB, and there is a continuing need for new antibiotics for this disease.”

The doctors said that further studies are needed to confirm their case reports and they hope the drug will be tested in large clinical trials sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO). Currently, no new drugs for treating multidrug resistant TB are in clinical trials.