Clinical Improvement of Active Tuberculosis Patients with Complex Treatment and Nutritional Supplementation

Global incidence of tuberculosis, especially multiple-drug resistant tuberculosis, has been increasing, despite development and use of various antimicrobial drugs for decades, leading to 2 million deaths a year. We evaluated the ef- fect of micronutrient supplementation as an adjunct to standard treatment of patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis, on clinical improvement and frequency of adverse events on 120 patients aged 20 to 65 years diagnosed with active pul- monary tuberculosis at the Kiev Department of Phthisiatry. All participants (Test group) were prescribed standard medica- tion supplemented with vitamin/essential nutrients. A Control group (n=100) of patients recently treated with standard medication alone at this facility were selected by matching to Test patients by stage of disease, confounding conditions, gender, and alcohol consumption. Standard clinical and diagnostic methods were applied to determine baseline values and at the termination of the study. After a two-month period of intensive chemotherapy, cavity healing (primary measure) oc- curred in 98% of the Test Group, but only in 69% of the Control Group. Furthermore, the Ziehl-Neelson sputum test was negative in 100% of the Test group, but only in 88% of the Control group. Resolution of respiratory compromise was higher in the Test group (87%) than in the Control group (78%). Furthermore, supplementation with vitamin/essential nu- trients resulted in a significant decrease in the frequency and severity of adverse events from chemotherapy; only 11% in the Test group experienced adverse events while 46% did so in the Control group. In conclusion, clinical efficacy of che- motherapy was enhanced significantly with adjunctive use of nutrient supplementation. In addition, micronutrient sup- plementation decreased the frequency and severity of adverse effects from chemotherapy.