CURRENTLY USED ANTI-TUBERCULAR AGENTS, THEIR ANALOGUES AND RECENTLYDEVELOPED DRUGS

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of most prevailing diseases, responsible for the morbidity and mortality of alarge number of populations worldwide. Traditionally, it has relied on a limited number of drugs suchas isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, streptomycin, ethionamide and pyrazinamide. However, many ofthese drugs have different disadvantages such as prolonged duration of treatment, host toxicity andineffectiveness against resistant strains. This has motivated the search of newer drug molecules, capableof rapid mycobactericidal action with shortened duration of therapy, reduced toxicity and enhanced activityagainst multidrug resistant strains. These observations have been guiding for the currently used and newlydeveloped anti-tubercular agents that possess potent antimicrobial activity and their side effects, activityagainst multi drug resistant Mycobacterium, and also in patients co-infected with HIV/AIDS.