The theme for World TB Day 2025 is “YES! We can end TB. Commit, Invest, Deliver!” This is a call to intensify our global efforts to eradicate TB.
Drug-resistant TB remains one of the major challenges as it continues to be a public health threat, both globally and in South Africa. Tuberculosis that is resistant to both rifampicin and iso- niazid - the two main antibiotics used to treat it - is known as multidrug-re- sistant TB (MDR-TB). Multidrug-re- sistant TB requires long, complex and expensive treatment with alternative or backup medications, and treatment outcomes for people with this form of TB remain poor.
Globally, 400 000 people were esti- mated to have developed MDR-TB in 2023. Approximately 2 million children are infected with MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bacterium that causes TB), and 30 000 children develop MDR-TB disease each year.
Researchers from the Desmond Tutu TB Centre at Stellenbosch Uni- versity (SU) led TB-CHAMP, a trial conducted at five places in South Africa. Just over 900 children and adolescents exposed to an adult with MDR-TB were enrolled in TB-CHAMP and assigned to receive either levo- floxacin (a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to treat MDR-TB) or a placebo daily for six months. Four hundred and fifty-three children were in the levofloxacin group, and 469 were in the placebo group. Neither the researchers nor the families knew which group the children were in. The levofloxacin used was an adult 250mg tablet, which caregivers needed to crush or soften to give to the younger children. The children were followed for a further six months after they stopped taking the study drug to see which children developed MDR-TB.
Fewer children on the TB-CHAMP trial developed TB disease than expected - five in the levofloxacin group and 12 in the placebo group. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. Only one child developed TB while taking levo- floxacin. The children who developed TB in both groups were all diagnosed early and responded well to treatment. The number of adverse events was the same in both groups, indicating that levofloxacin is very safe for young children.
The adult levofloxacin tablet was reasonably well accepted, especially by older children. Young children, how- ever, who needed to swallow tablets crushed or softene...
Drug-resistant TB remains one of the major challenges as it continues to be a public health threat, both globally and in South Africa. Tuberculosis that is resistant to both rifampicin and iso- niazid - the two main antibiotics used to treat it - is known as multidrug-re- sistant TB (MDR-TB). Multidrug-re- sistant TB requires long, complex and expensive treatment with alternative or backup medications, and treatment outcomes for people with this form of TB remain poor.
Globally, 400 000 people were esti- mated to have developed MDR-TB in 2023. Approximately 2 million children are infected with MDR Mycobacterium tuberculosis (the bacterium that causes TB), and 30 000 children develop MDR-TB disease each year.
Researchers from the Desmond Tutu TB Centre at Stellenbosch Uni- versity (SU) led TB-CHAMP, a trial conducted at five places in South Africa. Just over 900 children and adolescents exposed to an adult with MDR-TB were enrolled in TB-CHAMP and assigned to receive either levo- floxacin (a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to treat MDR-TB) or a placebo daily for six months. Four hundred and fifty-three children were in the levofloxacin group, and 469 were in the placebo group. Neither the researchers nor the families knew which group the children were in. The levofloxacin used was an adult 250mg tablet, which caregivers needed to crush or soften to give to the younger children. The children were followed for a further six months after they stopped taking the study drug to see which children developed MDR-TB.
Fewer children on the TB-CHAMP trial developed TB disease than expected - five in the levofloxacin group and 12 in the placebo group. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant. Only one child developed TB while taking levo- floxacin. The children who developed TB in both groups were all diagnosed early and responded well to treatment. The number of adverse events was the same in both groups, indicating that levofloxacin is very safe for young children.
The adult levofloxacin tablet was reasonably well accepted, especially by older children. Young children, how- ever, who needed to swallow tablets crushed or softene...
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The Mercury (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 24, 2025