GHESKIO Opens Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis Treatment Site

October 13, 2008

Multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a strain of TB that is resistant to the two most effective drugs, isoniazid and rifampin.  It has been called a “Ticking Time Bomb” as it has been diagnosed in most countries in the world, and treatment is difficult, requiring a complex regimen of at least five toxic drugs for two years.  In the past year, GHESKIO has started a program for the treatment of MDR-TB at Sigueneau Hospital, a public sanatorium in Haiti.  The goals of the program are to provide highly effective therapy, with treatment outcomes rivaling those of centers of excellence in industrialized nations, and in time to expand treatment to other sites across Haiti.  In the future, as MDR-TB treatment is scaled-up, clinical MDR-TB research will be conducted at GHESKIO and Sigueneau, with the intent to discover the most effective strategies for MDR-TB treatment, particularly for patients co-infected with MDR-TB and HIV/AIDS.