Current approach to diagnostics, treatment and prevention of tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis is worldwide spread infectious disease with persistant high incidence, mainly in the densely populated countries with low income. Czech Republic belongs to the countries with highly efficient control of tuberculosis and continuously decreasing incidence of the disease. Highrisk population for tuberculosis in the Czech Republic are the homeless people, who together with migrants from the countries with high incidence of tuberculosis represent reservoir of infection for our population. Treatment of tuberculosis is longterm, combined and controlled. Minimal efficious duration of the treatment is 6 moths. The most severe form of tuberculosis is multidrugresistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) caused by the strains resistant to basic antituberculous drugs, i.e. rifampicin and isoniasid, the treatment of which lasts 2-3 years. Preventive measures against tuberculosis comprise BCG vaccination in newborn and treatment of latent tuberculous infection in the individuals with risk of development of tuberculosis. Discovery of new drugs and new vaccine against tuberculosis together with financial and material resources designated for systematic search for the patients with tuberculosis and their treatment in the developing countries may enable continuous decrease of incidence of tuberculosis, whilst we can only dream about its fully erradication.