| THE CRYSTAL BALL - CHANGING HORIZONS |
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| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 4
| Issue : 2 | Page : 125-133 |
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Tuberculosis: Emerging skies in diagnostics, therapeutics and preventive strategies
Nitin Abhyankar
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Poona Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, Maharashtra, India
Correspondence Address:
Nitin Abhyankar
Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Poona Hospital and Research Centre, Pune, Maharashtra
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/astrocyte.astrocyte_60_17
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The diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of tuberculosis (TB) are on the anvil of a paradigm shift. While the diagnosis and treatment are likely to undergo a remarkable change with genotypic (improved Genexpert ultra and line probe assay) methods which assure rapid and accurate identification of drug sensitive and drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis, the focus of preventive strategy is likely to shift to effective vaccines in the making and possible diagnosis of latent tubercular infections through improved Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRAs) that would allow elimination of the disease in the bud. A number of injectable and aerosol vaccines are currently undergoing human trials, and could be marketed as early as next year. Concurrently, the integration of high dose Rifapentine/Rifampicin to the treatment regimen has the capability to shorten the duration of TB treatment. The compliance of patients with drug resistant TB could improve dramatically with shortening of the length of MDR and XDR TB treatments to 6 and 9 months respectively.
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