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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Jun 29.
Published in final edited form as: Curr Mol Med. 2014 Mar;14(3):385–395. doi: 10.2174/1566524013666131118112431

Fig. 2. Current model of TB treatment.

Fig. 2

Rapid bacterial killing is observed during the initial intensive phase which typically requires 4-drugs. However, the rate of killing is slower during the continuous phase due to “dormant” or “persistent” bacteria which are slowly or sporadically multiplying and therefore not amenable to effective killing by TB drugs. By targeting “dormant” or “persistent” bacteria, adjunctive therapies could hasten bacterial clearance (dotted line) and help in development of shorter and effective TB treatments.