A successful supervised outpatient short-course tuberculosis treatment program in an open refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border.
The operation of a tuberculosis treatment program in an open refugee camp of 45,000 refugees on the Thai-Cambodian border is described. Fifty-eight patients received 6 months of supervised daily, outpatient therapy with a protocol employing isoniazid, rifampin, streptomycin, and pyrazinamide. Patient compliance was high, with only 15 of 10,209 patient days being missed, despite a high incidence of minor side effects. Three patients died, 4 defaulted, and 1 moved to another camp for treatment. The therapies of 4 patients were extended because of the need for reduced doses of medications, the development of extrapulmonary disease, treatment failure, and slow resolution of infiltrates on radiographs. There was 1 late relapse. This report demonstrates the feasibility in integrating short-course therapies with program designs to produce high compliance under difficult field conditions.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002160:Cambodia / Q000208:ethnology; D002648:Child; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007538:Isoniazid / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011718:Pyrazinamide / Q000627:therapeutic use; D012036:Refugees; D012293:Rifampin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013307:Streptomycin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013785:Thailand; D013997:Time Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D011718:Pyrazinamide; D007538:Isoniazid; D012293:Rifampin; D013307:Streptomycin