The World Health Organization revised its recommendations for treating patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis to help patients achieve better outcomes.
The agency put TB medications into three classes according to when they should be used. WHO no longer recommends the drugs kanamycin and capreomycin, which put patients at an increased risk of treatment failure and relapse when used in longer multidrug-resistant TB regimens.
WHO also recommends providers treat all TB patients with oral drugs as opposed to injectable drugs since oral drugs are more powerful and patients taking injectable drugs report more side effects and adherence issues.
WHO will release new, more-specific recommendations for TB treatment later this year.
"Implementation of the new recommendations should happen quickly given landmark changes to the treatment of multidrug-resistant and rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis; nevertheless, it will be important to minimize disruptions to national health systems while ensuring that patient diagnosis and treatment continues to increase and improve," the agency said.
The agency is launching a task force to help countries with a high burden of multidrug-resistant TB implement the new recommendations.