Download "PIH Guide to the Medical Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis"

A decade ago, Partners In Health, in collaboration with Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, published The PIH Guide to Medical Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis. The pocket-size guide culled the best-available information from an array of agencies and organizations and distilled it into a portable format. It remains a go-to resource for clinicians in the field.

But over the past 10 years, PIH’s understanding of drug-resistant TB has evolved tremendously. We’ve collected enormous volumes of data that guide our decisions and programs. Our clinicians from Lesotho to Russia to Peru, among other countries, have devised and implemented evidence-based strategies to treat patients in a community setting and stem the transmission of the drug-resistant strains.

That’s why we’re delighted to announce the release of the second edition of The PIH Guide to Medical Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis. With funding from USAID though the TB CARE II Project, more than a dozen experts from organizations such as University Research Co., LLC, Project HOPE, KNCV, and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease shared their expertise and contributed to the guide.

“This is an easy-to-use guide that contains all new information,” says Dr. KJ Seung, program director of PIH/Lesotho, deputy director of TB CARE II, and a co-editor of the guide. “It discusses the community-based treatment model from the clinician’s perspective and explains how the model fits into overall management strategies.”

Since the first edition of the guide was published, new diagnostic technologies, such as GeneXpert, and drugs, such as Bedaquiline, have emerged. As Seung says, “We’re capable of diagnosing more patients with drug-resistant tuberculosis, but that does not mean treating MDR-TB or XDR-TB has gotten any easier. Treatment for drug-resistant TB takes between 18 and 24 months. It is very challenging.”

The medications used to treat drug-resistant strains can trigger myriad side effects, including deafness and liver damage. The PIH guide offers a comprehensive analysis of side effects and provides best practices for management.

“Among the biggest changes to the guide is new information on managing side effects,” Seung says.

“Among the biggest changes to the guide is new information on managing side effects,” Seung says. “This is a major problem for all clinicians, especially when they’re new to treating drug-resistant TB.”

While the burden of MDR- and XDR-TB appears to be increasing globally, PIH remains committed to accompanying patients through treatment, training the next generation of clinicians to build local capacity, and carrying out thorough research to improve on our strategies.

If you’re a clinician interested in downloading the updated edition of The PIH Guide to Medical Management of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis, please visit our Knowledge Center by clicking here. A digital version of the book is available here. An app containing the guide will be available for iPhones and the Android platform later this year.

Click here to download the full guide.

TB CARE II is funded by USAID under Cooperative Agreement Number AID-OAA-A-10-00021. The TB CARE II project team includes prime recipient, University Research Co., LLC (URC), and sub-recipient organizations Jhpiego, Partners In Health (PIH), Project HOPE along with the Canadian Lung Association (CLA); Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI); Dartmouth Medical School: the Section of Infectious Disease and International Health; Euro Health Group; MASS Design Group; and The New Jersey Medical School Global Tuberculosis Institute.