Professor Salome Charalambous

So we don't have the best treatment for TB.

And much of that is because there was a period where TB rates were dropping drastically in the whole world.

And then unfortunately, when HIV arrived...

There was a resurgence of TB.

And so then with this resurgence, there's been a lot of work now to try and find new drugs.

But the emphasis has really been on drugs for those people who are resistant to what we call the first line drugs, which is the first lot of drugs.

And these are pills?

Yes.

Yes, they're pills.

Yes.

Yeah.

And a daily medication for six months.

And many of the drugs that we use, unfortunately, do have side effects.

So people will often tell you about, you know, that they really feel very ill while taking TB treatment because of the

the many side effects of TB treatment.

So it's really something where we are hoping for newer and better regimens and we're wanting to see that happen.

There's lots of trials that have been done, some to reduce the regimen from a six month regimen to a four month regimen.

And there has been a successful trial actually done on this.

But unfortunately, for many reasons, it hasn't yet, the new regimen hasn't yet taken off.

So most people are still getting the six months regimen of TB.