News 2025

Tuberculosis contributes substantially to the global burden of antimicrobial resistance. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to rifampicin as a high-priority pathogen in the WHO Bacterial Priority Pathogens List 2024, underscoring the urgent need for research, development, and strategic action. Of particular concern is the growing resistance to newer key drugs such as bedaquiline, which threatens recent advances in the treatment of drug-resistant TB.

In response to this gap, clinical standards for Antimicrobial Stewardship in tuberculosis care have now been published for the first time. The standards appeared in the current issue of the International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Open and were developed through a structured Delphi process by an international expert panel comprising 62 specialists from 32 countries and all six WHO regions.The standards aim to integrate tuberculosis into existing AMS frameworks, strengthen surveillance and resistance monitoring, improve timely access to comprehensive drug resistance testing, and ensure that TB treatment prioritizes effectiveness, safety, and resistance prevention. They also promote structured expert consultation services, targeted testing and preventive treatment of at-risk populations, and systematic clinical and microbiological treatment monitoring.

“Antimicrobial resistance poses a serious threat to the progress achieved in tuberculosis care over recent years,” says Dr. Thomas Theo Brehm, first author of the study. “These clinical standards are intended to support responsible, effective, and sustainable tuberculosis treatment now and in the future.”