Advanced drug delivery and therapeutic strategies for tuberculosis treatment

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a significant global health challenge, necessitating innovative approaches for effective treatment. Conventional TB therapy encounters several limitations, including extended treatment duration, drug resistance, patient noncompliance, poor bioavailability, and suboptimal targeting. Advanced drug delivery strategies have emerged as a promising approach to address these challenges. They have the potential to enhance therapeutic outcomes and improve TB patient compliance by providing benefits such as multiple drug encapsulation, sustained release, targeted delivery, reduced dosing frequency, and minimal side effects. This review examines the current landscape of drug delivery strategies for effective TB management, specifically highlighting lipid nanoparticles, polymer nanoparticles, inorganic nanoparticles, emulsion-based systems, carbon nanotubes, graphene, and hydrogels as promising approaches. Furthermore, emerging therapeutic strategies like targeted therapy, long-acting therapeutics, extrapulmonary therapy, phototherapy, and immunotherapy are emphasized. The review also discusses the future trajectory and challenges of developing drug delivery systems for TB. In conclusion, nanomedicine has made substantial progress in addressing the challenges posed by conventional TB drugs. Moreover, by harnessing the unique targeting abilities, extended duration of action, and specificity of advanced therapeutics, innovative solutions are offered that have the potential to revolutionize TB therapy, thereby enhancing treatment outcomes and patient compliance.

A critical review of risk factors influencing the prevalence of extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis in India

Globally, extensive drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a major element to cause morbidity and death among tuberculosis patients. The present study identifies the vital risk variables contributing to XDR-TB prevalence in India. Scopus, PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, and Google Scholar databases were searched thoroughly for the articles, using medical subject heading as a key term published between the years 2012 and 2022. According to the inclusion criteria, 11 publications were selected. Socioeconomic characteristics include employment, educational attainment, undernourishment, and the rest, and demographic factors such as gender, age, and more. Were examined in the review, whereas alcoholics, smoking, and diabetes mellitus were investigated under comorbidities and behavioral risk factors. We observed that noncompliance, poor knowledge, and insufficient health-care facilities could significantly accelerate the spread of XDR-TB, and the present review imparts a remarkable and detailed evaluation of XDR-TB. The study analysis is markedly useful for policymakers as well as researchers to discover and implement effective solutions for tuberculosis-infected patients.