[Treatment and diagnostics of tuberculosis: moving slowly forward]

Abstract

Development of new drugs for the treatment of drug sensitive and drug resistant tuberculosis is badly needed. Substantial progress has been made in the field and presently six new drug components are in clinical phase I and II trials. Drugs approved for other indications e.g. newer fluoroquinolones and oxazolidinones are also being assessed in human phase II and III trials. Efforts are made to develop easy-to-handle diagnostic tools that will allow early detection of potential MDR or XDR cases. The Xpert RIF/MTB is a prototype of such an invention. At long last the field is moving slowly forward.