Baltimore, Maryland – Researchers find new clues for better medication for tuberculosis (TB), including other persistent bacterial infections, attacking dormant TB bacteria while shortening treatment procedures.
The researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health conducted the study. Their findings were published in the “Emerging Microbes & Infections” journal.
Of all TB drugs, the mechanisms of Pyrazinamide (PZA) has been the least understood, although it has been used in treating the condition since the 1950s. The same antibiotic was used by the researchers in their study, identifying new and more effective medication in treating not only TB, but other bacterial infections. The new medication would require six or more months of treatment.
People suffering from TB need a sort of an urgent care near me facility, availing immediate and proper medication for their condition. TB is brought about by a bacterial infection that requires an urgent care and treatment, preventing further health complications.
Doctor Ying Zhang, lead researcher, said PZA could be the most probable, unique antibiotic ever developed. It tends to attack TB cells that replicate actively, while destroying dormant cells which are uncontrollable. PZA is capable of doing both things that other antibiotics can not.
Most of the existing medication for tuberculosis are only capable of chopping off the leaves, while the roots remain, Zhang said. Meanwhile the PZA is able to reach the roots, and learning the process would enable the researchers to eliminate TB faster and permanently without degeneration, he added.
Shanghai’s Fudan University collaborated with the study, finding that PZA can eliminate the Mycobacterium TB energy production. This simply means killing the bacteria. The PZA’s unique ability can terminate the Mycobacterium TB energy production, clearing the dormant bacteria at the same time.
Approximately 8.6 million has developed TB worldwide, 1.3 million of them died, based on 2012 records. Cases were diagnosed in urgent care clinics, emergency departments, hospitals, and other health facilities. The rate of new diagnoses had dropped relatively, although drug-resistant cases augmented.
Patients with TB certainly need an urgent care clinic and antibiotic treatment for six months. This is the main reason why researchers across the globe continually strive in developing medication for tuberculosis that could act quickly, but without toxic side effects that are common to other drugs.
Zhang said PZA is efficient to both drug-resistant and drug-susceptible forms of TB. And while it is considered as the primary TB treatment, the development of new medication for tuberculosis will still be used in conjunction with PZA.
