TB Treatment
Active TB Treatement
Pictures & Pages/Related Info
Active TB Pathway (Red Book pg. 1)
Identifying Concerns & Supports (Red book pg. 23)
Supporting the Person
See Intro to TB Treatment or Incentives for more information on supporting the person through TB treatment.
As you may know, the treatment for Active TB is mandatory. If the TB team has done all they can and the person is still not taking their treatment, the courts and police can become involved. This does not happen often and should only be considered as the very last resort.
Antibiotics & Pills by DOT
Often the antibiotics for Active TB must be taken in front of someone from the TB Team. This is called DOT, or directly observed therapy.
DOT is done to help make sure that all the prescribed pills are taken. The more days that are missed, the more chances the antibiotics might stop working and the more chances the person might become sick or contagious again.
How can the PHO help with DOT?
Usually, DOT takes place at the clinic. This can be hard for some people to schedule into their lives so as the PHO you can help figure out an easier way or place for DOT to happen. It is very important for someone to take their Active TB pills without missing many days.
Active TB Antibiotic Treatment - 2 Phases
The standard Active TB treatment is about 6 months and happens in 2 phases.
The standard 2 phases (when taken the prescribed days):
Phase 1 – pills everyday - for about 2 months (60 doses).
Phase 2 – pills 3 times per week - for about 4 months (51 doses).
Sometimes Phase 2 treatment needs to be taken every day or is longer because:
The spit test shows many TB bacteria in the person’s body.
The person’s TB is making them very sick.
The person has TB in more than one part of the body.
The person has TB in their bones or around their brain.
Some days of pills were missed.
Generally, people have found that Phase 1 is harder than Phase 2. As the PHO, it is good to encourage people to push through the more challenging Phase 1.
‘Standard’ just means the most common but there are different TB treatments depending on each unique situation.
Active TB Treatment Phase 1
Active TB Treatment Phase 2
Example conversation with someone who is starting Active TB treatment:
Support
Yes, there are pills to get rid of TB in your body, but TB treatment is also about the TB Team supporting you while you’re taking the pills. That’s a big reason why we’re talking together today, you’re not alone in this!
After we talk about the antibiotics and schedule, we can talk more specifically about things you think might help you and what the clinic can do for you.
Antibiotics
So, moving on to the antibiotics. They’re normally very good at killing all the TB Germs and it’s very safe.
There are some side effects to treatment but usually people can take treatment without too much trouble. The important point is that if you’re ever feeling not well during treatment, let me or the nurse know - maybe there’s something we can do about it.
2 Phases
Basically, there are two phases of treatment. Phase 1 is 60 total doses that you take every day. This usually takes about 2 months but can take longer if you miss days.
The number and schedule of doses in Phase 2 can be different person to person so I think it’s better just to focus on getting through Phase 1 now.