| dc.description.abstract | Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a pathogenic bacteria species of the genus Mycobacterium, first
discovered in 1882 by Robert Koch, which causes tuberculosis (TB) (Ryan & Ray, 2004). The
disease is characterized by symptoms such as sepsis, septic shock, multiple organ failure
(Muckart & Bhagwanjee, 1997). It may spread to the central nervous system and cause TB
meningitis, intracranial tuberculomas, or abscesses (Harisinghani et al., 2000; Hwang et al.,
2010).
After the late 1980s, tuberculosis morbidity and mortality rates became a major health
problem for industrialized countries (Raviglione et al., 1995; Heym & Cole, 1997).
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis
(XDR TB) has become a common phenomenon, which cause drugs to be ineffective. MDRTB results from either primary infection or may develop in the course of a patient's
treatment. MDR TB is resistant to at least two first-line anti-TB drugs, isoniazid (INH) and
rifampicin (RIF), which are most powerful anti-TB drugs; XDR TB is resistant to INH and
RIF, plus fluoroquinolone and at least one of three injectable second-line drugs such as
capreomycin, kanamycin, and amikacin. Treatment of XDR-TB is not possible by first-line
anti-TB drugs, which are less effective, expensive and toxic; in addition treatment takes two
years or more (WHO, 2011a; WHO, 2011b). | en_US |
