Treatments

Latent TB: if TB bacteria become active and multiply, the person will go from having latent TB infection to being sick with TB disease. So people with latent TB infection are often prescribed treatment to keep them from developing TB disease. Treatmenting latent TB infection is important in order to be able to control and eliminate TB in the U.S.

Treatment is much easier for those with Latent TB infection because there are less TB bacteria in their bodies. There are four treatments for treatmenting latent TB infection. The medications used to treat it are:

isoniazid (INH) ----> 9 months OR 6 months

rifampin (RIF) ------> 3 months

rifapentine (RPT) --> 4 months

TB Disease: TB disease is diagnosed when the TB bacteria are active, and will make you sick. People with TB disease can spread the bacteria to people that they spend many hours with.

TB disease can be treated by taking several drugs for 6 to 9 months. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) currently approves of 10 drugs for use in treating TB. Of these drugs, the first-line anti-TB agents that form the core of treatment regimens are:

isoniazid (INH)

rifampin (RIF)

ethambutol (EMB)

pyrazinamide (PZA)

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