MDR-TB has a mortality rate of about 15% with treatment, which further depends on a number of factors, including:
How many drugs the organism is resistant to (the fewer the better)
How many drugs the patient is given (patients treated with five or more drugs do better)
The expertise and experience of the physician responsible
How co-operative the patient is with treatment (treatment is arduous and long, and requires persistence and determination on the part of the patient)
Whether the patient is HIV-positive or not (HIV co-infection is associated with increased mortality).The majority of patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis do not receive treatment, as they are found in underdeveloped countries or in poverty. Denial of treatment remains a difficult human rights issue, as the high cost of second-line medications often precludes those who cannot afford therapy.A study of cost-effective strategies for tuberculosis control supported three major policies. First, the treatment of smear-positive cases in DOTS programs must be the foundation of any tuberculosis control approach, and should be a basic practice for all control programs. Second, there is a powerful economic case for treating smear-negative and extra-pulmonary cases in DOTS programs along with treating smear-negative and extra-pulmonary cases in DOTS programs as a new WHO "STOP TB" approach and the second global plan for tuberculosis control. Last, but not least, the study shows that significant scaling-up of all interventions is needed in the next 10 years if the millennium development goal and related goals for tuberculosis control are to be achieved.
The structure of Aureomycin was elucidated in 1952 and published in 1954 by the Pfizer-Woodward group. After the discovery of the structure, researchers at Pfizer began chemically modifying aureomycin by treating it with hydrogen in the presence of a palladized carbon catalyst. This chemical reaction replaced a chlorine moiety with a hydrogen, creating a compound named tetracycline via hydrogenolysis. Tetracycline displayed higher potency, better solubility, and more favorable pharmacology than the other antibiotics in its class, leading to its FDA approval in 1954. The new compound was one of the first commercially successful semi-synthetic antibiotics that was used, and laid the foundation for the development of Sancycline, Minocycline, and later the Glycylcyclines. Evidence in antiquity
Our modern understanding of tetracyclines dates their discovery to 1948, but there is evidence that early inhabitants of Northeastern Africa consumed tetracycline antibiotics. Nubian mummies from between 350 and 550 C.E. were found to exhibit patterns of fluorescence identical with that of modern tetracycline labelled bone.Tetracycline has a high affinity for calcium and is incorporated into bones during the active mineralization of hydroxyapatite. When incorporated into bones, tetracycline can be identified using ultraviolet light.It is conjectured that the beer brewed at the time was the source of the tetracycline found in these bones. Society and culture
Price
According to data from EvaluatePharma and published in the Boston Globe, in the USA the price of tetracycline rose from $0.06 per 250-mg pill in 2013 to $4.06 a pill in 2015.