Ibuprofen and aspirin: new allies in the fight against tuberculosis

A pioneering study has shown that conventional anti-inflammatory drugs, such as ibuprofen or aspirin, help combat tuberculosis. "Research has shown that these drugs, used as a supplement for conventional therapy, are effective in those patients whose lungs are severely affected", Dr Pere-Joan Cardona, course instructor at the UOC's Faculty of Health Sciences and head of the Catalan Tuberculosis Unit at the Institut Germans Trias i Pujol, explains. Cardona's team has taken part in this research, which is now starting to be applied in patients. "It is a giant step forward because these anti-inflammatory drugs are widely available and relatively cheap", the researcher highlights. According to the latest WHO study, between 2010 and 2015, treatment avoided the death of 49 million people. Faced with the difficulty in avoiding contagion, effective treatments are the main hope for reducing the number of cases and mortality.

Half a million multi-resistant cases

The possibility of blocking tuberculosis with common anti-inflammatory drugs is a ray of hope in a setting that "is epidemiologically unfavourable". Cardona points out that, on one hand, there are half a million multi-resistant cases in the world. These people will never be cured. On the other hand, the overcrowded living conditions in many cities, with constantly growing populations, facilitate contagion of the disease. Lastly, in the developing countries, the number of cases of malnutrition, obesity and type II diabetes is constantly growing; all three are risk factors for the disease.

Shortfall in diagnosis

The situation as regards incidence has not changed much in recent years. In Spain, control of the disease is adequate in Catalonia and Galicia, where there are specific detection plans. Cardona highlights the pioneering role played by the control plan in Barcelona. Even so, 1,000 cases of tuberculosis are detected each year in Catalonia. In Spain as a whole, with the historic demand for a nationwide plan still unanswered, the experts estimate that 100,000 people are infected each year but only 20% of the cases are diagnosed.

As regards the global situation, Russia is the country with most infected people and the contagion rate has put the experts on alert, as has the situation in Estonia. In Latin America, Bolivia and Peru are the countries with the highest prevalence. Cardona points out that controlling the disease requires significant government investment. Unfortunately, this commitment is lacking, which he blames on the stigma associated with the disease.

A probiotic and a therapeutic vaccine

Until this situation changes, Cardona's team continues to develop other treatments and drugs with the goal of stopping this infection, which affects one third of mankind.

This year, a clinical trial has started in Georgia (Russia) with 3,500 subjects. This trial will test a probiotic developed in Catalonia that reduces the risk of developing the disease. It is a dietary supplement based on a natural bacterium that is taken orally, cheap and resistant to climate variations. Furthermore, its action neither depends on nor interferes with the antibiotic resistance profile. They are also continuing with development of the therapeutic vaccine RUTI.