Tuberculosis Treatment Trials

结核病仍然是许多国家的一个主要问题;在撒哈拉以南非洲，艾滋病毒/艾滋病流行病出现后，报告的病例数量急剧增加。在对照试验条件下非常有效的药物敏感性结核病治疗方案已经存在多年，但需要至少给予6个月。许多患者无法完成治疗，因为他们在治疗2-3个月后感觉好多了。需要更短和更简单的有效方案。CTU最近完成了两项国际多中心试验，评估缩短治疗时间和/或简化治疗的可能性。一项评估超短疗程的试验已经获得资助，计划在不久的将来开始。迫切需要找到有效治疗耐多药结核病（MDR-TB）的方法，目前的治疗方案持续时间长，毒性大，价格昂贵，效果通常较差。目前正在进行一项大型多中心试验，评估孟加拉国开发的一种有希望的治疗方案;该试验包括两种治疗方案，其中含有大约50年来第一种获得许可的新结核病药物。在儿童中进行的结核病治疗试验很少，预计不久将在患有有限疾病的儿童中进行一项此类试验，并计划在耐药性结核病和结核性脑膜炎中进行试验。

Tuberculosis remains a major problem in many countries; in sub-Saharan Africa numbers of cases reported have increased dramatically following the advent of the HIV-AIDS epidemic. Treatment regimens for drug-sensitive tuberculosis which are highly effective under controlled trial conditions have been available for many years but need to be given for at least 6 months. Many patients fail to complete treatment since they feel much better after 2-3 months treatment. Shorter and simpler effective regimens are needed. The CTU recently completed two international multi-centre trials assessing the possibility of treatment shortening and/or simplifying treatment. A trial assessing ultra-short treatment has been funded and is planned to commence in the near future. There is an urgent need to find effective treatments for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), current regimens are given for long durations, are toxic, expensive and results are generally poor. A large multi-centre trial is currently in progress which is assessing a promising regimen which has been developed in Bangladesh; the trial includes two regimens containing the first new tuberculosis drug to be licensed for about 50 years. There have been very few trials of tuberculosis treatment in children, one such trial in children with limited disease is expected to start soon and trials in drug-resistant tuberculosis and TB-meningitis are planned.