Evaluation & Impact of Anti Tuberculosis Drug Lines against an MDR - Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates

The present communiqué renders a comparative account of evaluation and impact of anti-tuberculosis drugs against an Multiple-drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis (MDR-TB). MDR-TB is known to be resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin, in vitro. It defies the effectiveness of standard treatments and, in turn, contributes to increased mortality. It is widespread in some countries, especially the former USSR, where, the rates of MDR-TB among ‘newly enrolled’ and ‘non-responding’ prisoners were 24.6% and 92.1%, respectively. In the Russian Federation, high rates of MDR-TB (23 – 50%) have been registered among sputum smear-positive individuals receiving fully administered short-term treatments with first-line drugs. In the USA, 3.5% of tuberculosis strains were found resistant to isoniazid and rifampicin at the time of the outbreak of tuberculosis in early 1990s.

Six classes of second-line drugs - aminoglycosides, fluoroquinolones, poly peptides, thioamides, cycloserine and p-aminosalicylic acid have been catalogued for the treatment of TB. Recently, an extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strain of M. tuberculosis has been observed which shows no response to isoniazid, rifampin, fluoroquinolone and aminoglycoside. XDR-TB is the most severe form of tuberculosis, against which no effective drug has been identified till date. However, a new generation TBK-613 of fluoroquinolone is on trial to treat this severe form of tuberculosis.

Medicinal plants offer a great hope to fulfill this void. Plants are being used as pure compounds as well as crude bits & pieces to cure tuberculosis since medieval times. However, our scientific understanding and registrations are still not up to date. The present study makes valid comparison among different anti-tuberculosis drug against Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates and hit upon the susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis against different medicinal plants.