Tuberculosis can be treated with antibiotics to kill the bacteria. The course of treatment is much longer than for other diseases, usually six to twelve months.

If you have a latent TB infection, the doctor may recommend that you take antibiotics as a preventative measure, usually a daily dose of the TB medication isoniazid for six to nine months.

If you have active TB, you will likely have to take a cocktail of four different antibiotics to start out your treatment: isoniazid, rifampin (Rifadin, Rimactane), ethambutol (Myambutol) and pyrazinamide. The strain of TB you have might not respond to one or more of the drugs in the cocktail and so may be dropped from your regimen after further tests. You will likely need to take the antibiotics for six to twelve months, depending on your age, health and the susceptibility of the TB to treatment. Completing the entire course is critical; if you do not, the TB in your body may become resistant to all of the antibiotics. You may be considered no longer contagious after you have been taking antibiotics for three weeks or more but talk to your doctor to be sure.

Some strains of TB are multidrug resistant (MDR-meaning they cannot be treated by either of the two most powerful TB antibiotics, isoniazid and rifampin. Recently, extensive drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) strains have surfaced that are resistant to isoniazid and rifampin and to three or more of the so-called second-line TB drugs that are a last resort in treating TB.

MDR-TB can be treated, but it requires at least two years of treatment using second-line TB medications that can be highly toxic. Many people with MDR-TB do not survive, even with treatment. Since XDR-TB is resistant to most of the second-line TB drugs it is incredibly difficult to treat. Both MDR-TB and XDR-TB are more common in people who do not complete their original course of treatment.