Adjuvant Interferon Gamma in the Management of Multidrug - Resistant Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis is an opportunistic infection, the minute it finds an immunocompromised host, it flourishes. The risk of tuberculosis is much higher in patients who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive. Drug resistance among microbes is testimony to their adaptive skills. In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis the resistance occurs due to random, single step, spontaneous mutation and is invariably induced by inadequate or incomplete therapy. This resistance was termed as Multidrug Resistant (MDR) tuberculosis when the organism was resistant to more than one anti-tuberculosis drug. The presence of MDR tuberculosis, in general population, exposes the immunodeficient patients to an MDR strain of tuberculosis, which has very serious consequences for them. The risk of tuberculosis is also higher in non-HIV immunocompromised patients such as those with genetic absence of Interferon (IFN) gamma receptors, or acquired immune defect in the elderly. In either these situations IFN gamma or its absence seems to play a major role. In addition to the pulmonary infection, immunocompromised patients (with or without HIV) fall victim to extrapulmonary tuberculosis.