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"Linezolid, an antibiotic used to treat severe infections, is showing promise against extensively drug resistant tuberculosis, a deadly form of the bacterial disease that is resistant to at least four major TB drugs.<br /><br />XDR-TB is currently being reported in close to 80 countries and can be deadly, particularly if a person is co-infected with HIV. The resistant form of TB has a very high mortality rate, <a href=\"http://www.voanews.com/\">Voice of America</a> reports.<br /><br />\"That's been a known problem for many years, primarily as a result of people who don't take their drugs well,\" Ray Chen, a staff clinician at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said, according to <a href=\"http://www.voanews.com/\">Voice of America</a>. \"And then the tuberculosis bug slowly develops resistance to the drugs that are used.\"<br /><br />Linezolid is a drug approved for the use of resistant bacteria. Research with the drug determined that when added to a drug regimen it could be effective against the resistant TB.<br /><br />\"We found that adding the linezolid had a significant effect and that most of the patients converted their sputum from showing tuberculosis to not having tuberculosis in the sputum by six months,\" Chen said, according to <a href=\"http://www.voanews.com/\">Voice of America</a>. \"About 87 percent of the patients became negative for tuberculosis within six months. So it showed a very good response.\"<br /><br />The problem with the medication is that many of the 41 patients tested dealt with severe side effects. The side effects included nerve problems, eye issues and blood abnormalities.<br /><br />Chen said that more studies are required to determine if the drugs can be used in large-scale combination with other treatments. Additionally, new antibiotics are coming on the market and could be tested on TB as well."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://vaccinenewsdaily.com/stories/510533480-antibiotic-shows-promise-against-xdr-tb>