OBJECTIVEThis study aimed to review the available literatures on control of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection and propose a new control strategy to shorten the course of TB chemotherapy.

DATA SOURCESThe data used in this review were mainly obtained from articles listed in PubMed. The search terms were "therapy (treatment) of tuberculosis," "therapy (treatment) of latent TB infection," and "vaccine of TB."

STUDY SELECTIONArticles regarding treatment and vaccine of TB were selected and reviewed.

RESULTSThe most crucial reason causing the prolonged course of TB chemotherapy is the dormant state of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). Nevertheless, there are, to date, no effective drugs that can directly kill the dormant cells of M. tuberculosis in clinical therapy. In accordance with the growth cycle of dormant M. tuberculosis in the body, the methods for controlling dormant M. tuberculosis include direct killing with drugs, prevention of dormant M. tuberculosis resuscitation with vaccines, and resuscitating dormant M. tuberculosis with preparations or drugs and then thoroughly killing these resuscitated M. tuberculosis by using anti-TB therapy.

CONCLUSIONSThe comprehensive analysis of the above three methods suggests that the drugs directly killing dormant cells are in clinical trials, TMC207 is the most beneficial for controlling TB. Because the side effect of vaccines is less and their action period is long, prevention of dormant cells resuscitation with vaccines is promising. The last control method makes it probable that when a huge number of active cells of M. tuberculosis have been killed and eradicated after 1-month short chemotherapy, only a strong short-term subsequent chemotherapy can completely kill and eradicate the remaining M. tuberculosis. This control strategy is expected to significantly shorten the course of TB chemotherapy and bring a new change and breakthrough in TB treatment.