Summary
Drug resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is challenging to diagnose, treat, and prevent, but that is slowly changing. If the world is to drastically reduce the incidence of DR-TB, we must stop creating new drug-resistant TB as an essential first step. The drug-resistant TB epidemic that is ongoing must also be directly addressed. First-line drug resistance must be rapidly detected through universal molecular testing for resistance to at least rifampin and preferably other key drugs at initial TB diagnosis. DR-TB treatment outcomes must also improve dramatically. Effective use of currently-available, new, and repurposed drugs, combined with patient-centered treatment that aids adherence and reduces catastrophic costs, are essential. Innovations within sight, such as short, highly-effective, broadly-indicated regimens, paired with point-of-care drug susceptibility tests, could accelerate progress in treatment outcomes. Preventing or containing resistance to second-line and novel drugs is also critical and will require high-quality systems for diagnosis, regimen selection, and treatment monitoring. Finally, earlier detection and/or prevention of DR-TB is necessary, with particular attention to airborne infection control, case finding, and preventive therapy for contacts of patients with DR-TB. Implementing these strategies can overcome the barrier that DR-TB represents for global TB elimination efforts, and could ultimately make global elimination of DR-TB (fewer than one annual case per million population worldwide) attainable. There is a strong cost-effectiveness case to support pursuing DR-TB elimination, but achieving this goal will require substantial global investment plus political and societal commitment at the national and local levels.