Resistance to the key drug Bedaqualine (BDQ) is rapidly on the rise, making the treatment of patients with rifampicine resistance increasingly challenging. For rifampicin-resistant TB with presumed or confirmed BDQ resistance there is no evidence-based regimen. The current practice, continue failing regimens, imperils the potency of the remaining RR-TB drug arsenal.
Tuberculosis Antimicrobial Stewardship Program (TASP) tests an Rr-TB antimicrobial stewardship program focussing on rapidly reducing the bacillary load in patients with BDQr/Rr-TB through an empirical highly bactericidal intensive phase followed by rational drug susceptibility test-informed regimen construction.
The project includes the co-creataion of low-costs portable HEPA filters to be installed in key areas in health care facilities aimed at improving circulation of resistant micro-organisms. As a novel approach, we will test the usefulness of the HEPA filter waste as a source for pathogen-agnostic AMR surveillance.
We conduct a detailed economic evaluation of the overall effect of TASP, as well as it components (diagnostics, treatment, prevention).
Funding: EDCTP-3
Project partners: ITM, Belgium; University nof Antwerpen, Belgium; University Ibadan, Nigeria; Lagos State University, Nigeria; Uppsala Universitet, Sweden; Centre National Hospitalier de Pneumo-Phtisiology, Benin; University of Rwanda, Rwanda; University of Cape Town, South Africa; Governing Counsel University of Toronto, Canada; Aurum Institue Mozambique; Aurum Institute South Africa.
Timing: 2025 - 2030
