Issues Related to the Updated 2014 Korean Guidelines for Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem in South Korea. The Joint Committee for the Development of Korean Guidelines for Tuberculosis published the Korean Guidelines for Tuberculosis in 2011 to provide evidence-based practical recommendations to health care workers caring for patients with TB in South Korea. After reviewing recent national and international scientific data on TB, the committee updated the Korean guidelines for TB in 2014. This article presents some practical issues related to the 2014 updated guidelines: namely use of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis - polymerase chain reaction assay and the Xpert MTB/RIF assay in the diagnosis of TB, as well as medical treatment for patients with multidrug-resistant TB.