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Fluoroquinolones for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis

Moadebi S, Harder CK, Fitzgerald MJ, Elwood KR, Marra F

Drugs, 2007

1,469 participants

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a significant problem globally. Treatment includes a multiple drug regimen with isoniazid, rifampicin (rifampin), pyrazinamide and ethambutol. Often, one of these medications needs to be replaced as a result of adverse events or because Mycobacterium tuberculosis develops resistance against one these first-line agents. Fluoroquinolones, particularly the newer ones, possess good in vitro (levofloxacin, gatifloxacin, moxifloxacin) and in vivo (gatifloxacin and moxifloxacin) bactericidal activity against M. tuberculosis, making them attractive agents for the treatment of pulmonary TB. All relevant clinical trials, cohort studies and case reports investigating the clinical efficacy and tolerability of fluoroquinolones when used for the treatment of pulmonary TB were evaluated for this review. Specifically, efficacy and safety in the following indications were investigated: (i) first-line treatment of drug-sensitive pulmonary TB; (ii) first-line treatment for multi-drug resistant (MDR) TB; and (iii) treatment of patients with drug intolerance. Twenty-seven articles met our inclusion criteria; nine articles presented data from randomised, controlled or cohort studies. Seven studies used fluoroquinolones as first-line agents in drug-sensitive TB (1469 patients), 15 studies used fluoroquinolones to treat MDR-TB (1025 patients) and six studies (951 patients) investigated the use of fluoroquinolones in patients intolerant to other TB medications. In…

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