Yadav Sankalp
Medicine, Shri Madan Lal Khurana Chest Clinic, New Delhi, IND.
Cureus. 2022 Jul 22;14(7):e27146. doi: 10.7759/cureus.27146. eCollection 2022 Jul.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease known to mankind for ages. The situation due to this infection in low- and middle-income countries is grave. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has only added up to the woes. The situation is alarming due to the isolation of drug-resistant strains in patients with no history of TB. With the inclusion of new drugs for the management of TB, such as bedaquiline (Bdq), prompt diagnosis and management are feasible. The author herein presents the first case of a primary multidrug-resistant pulmonary TB patient managed on an all-oral longer regimen with Bdq started at a district TB center (DTC) for the first time in the pandemic of COVID-19. This case is unique as during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare facilities were saturated, and thus starting treatment after admission was very difficult. Also, the chances of cross-infection in TB patients were present due to weak immunity. This case is very important as this novel management at a DTC would help immensely in resource-limited countries where hospital admissions are difficult due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the burden of TB is very high.
结核病是一种人类认识已久的疾病。低收入和中等收入国家因这种感染而面临的形势严峻。2019冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行更是雪上加霜。由于在无结核病病史的患者中分离出耐药菌株,形势令人担忧。随着用于结核病治疗的新药如贝达喹啉(Bdq)的出现,及时诊断和治疗成为可能。本文作者介绍了首例原发性耐多药肺结核患者,该患者在COVID-19大流行期间首次在区级结核病中心(DTC)接受了含Bdq的全口服长疗程治疗。该病例具有独特性,因为在COVID-19大流行期间,医疗设施不堪重负,入院后开始治疗非常困难。此外,结核病患者由于免疫力低下存在交叉感染的风险。该病例非常重要,因为在DTC的这种新型治疗方法将对资源有限的国家有极大帮助,在这些国家,由于COVID-19大流行,医院收治困难,而结核病负担又非常高。