While preventive treatment for tuberculosis (TB) is effective against drug-susceptible TB, its efficacy in individuals exposed to multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB remains uncertain due to a lack of randomized trials. To address this gap, researchers have analyzed data from two clinical trials assessing the efficacy of levofloxacin in preventing TB incidence among adults (n = 2041) and children (n = 922) exposed to MDR-TB. The meta-analysis of these trials revealed that levofloxacin reduced TB incidence by 60% in adults and children compared to placebo.
However, musculoskeletal adverse events were more frequent in the levofloxacin group, though not in children aged below 10 years. Further, grade 3 adverse events were reported in four participants in the levofloxacin group and three in the placebo group. These findings suggest that levofloxacin could be an effective option for preventing TB…
