Antimycobacterial therapy. Antimycobacterial is a therapy to treat mycobacterial infections. This therapy can treat different diseases caused by different mycobacteria like Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium leprae. This antimicrobial therapy includes different types of drugs to treat diseases.Approximately one third of the world's population, including more than 11 million persons in the United States, is latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Although most cases of tuberculosis in the United States occur in foreign-born persons from endemic countries, the prevalence is generally greater in economically disadvantaged populations and in persons with immunosuppressive conditions. Delays in detection and treatment allow for greater transmission of the infection. Compared with the traditional tuberculin skin test and acid-fast bacilli smear, newer interferon-gamma release assays and nucleic acid amplification assays lead to more rapid and specific detection of M. tuberculosis infection and active disease, respectively