Vitamin D can help treat lethal drug-resistant TB

Taking vitamin D supTaking vitamin D sup plements with antibi otics can help speed up the process of clearing multi-drug resistant tuberculosis bacteria from the lungs, a study claims.The World Health Organisation estimates that 10.0 million people developed active tuberculosis (TB) in 2017, and that 1.6 million people died of this disease. “Multi-drug resistant TB is on the rise globally. It’s notoriously difficult to treat, and it carries a much worse prognosis than standard TB,” said Adrian Martineau from Queen Mary University of London in the UK. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB is caused by bacteria that are resistant to treatment with at least two of the most powerful first-line anti-TB drugs, causing around 500,000 cases and 150,000 deaths per year worldwide. Existing antibiotic treatments for MDR TB are lengthy, costly and often toxic due to their serious side effects. “Our study raises the possibility that vitamin D — which is very safe and inexpensive — could benefit this hard-to-treat group of patients by taking a novel approach to their treatment,” said Martineau. “By adding vitamin D to antibiotic treatment, we can boost the immune system to help the body to clear TB bugs, rather than relying on antibiotics on their own to kill the bacteria directly,” she said. “This is a novel approach, as it contrasts with the conventional tactic of developing new antibiotics in an attempt to ‘keep up’ with the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria – an arms race that is proving hard for us to win,” she added. (PTI)