Treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis with short course chemotherapy in south India--5-year follow up.
A controlled clinical trial of three short-course chemotherapy regimens was undertaken in patients with newly diagnosed bacteriologically positive pulmonary tuberculosis. The patients were randomly allocated to receive one of three regimens: rifampicin, streptomycin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide daily for 2 months, followed by streptomycin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide twice weekly for 3 months (R/5) or for 5 months (R/7), or the same regimen as R/7 but without rifampicin (Z/7). A bacteriological relapse requiring retreatment occurred by 5 years in 7.1% of 126 R/5, 4.0% of 124 R/7 and 6.7% of 253 Z/7 patients with organisms initially sensitive to streptomycin and isoniazid; none of these differences is statistically significant. Of the 31 relapses, 16 occurred within 2 years of the completion of chemotherapy and the remaining 15 between 2 and 5 years. Among 65 patients with initial drug resistance to streptomycin or isoniazid or both, there were six bacteriological relapses requiring retreatment.
Santha
T
T
Tuberculosis Research Centre, (Indian Council of Medical Research), Madras, India.
Nazareth
O
O
Krishnamurthy
M S
MS
Balasubramanian
R
R
Vijayan
V K
VK
Janardhanam
B
B
Venkataraman
P
P
Tripathy
S P
SP
Prabhakar
R
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008875:Middle Aged; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012008:Recurrence; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000995:Antitubercular Agents