• Eva Nathanson, Catharina Lambregts-van Weezenbeek, Michael L Rich, Rajesh Gupta, Jaime Bayona, Kai Blöndal, José A Caminero, J Peter Cegielski, Manfred Danilovits, Marcos A Espinal, Vahur Hollo, Ernesto Jaramillo, Vaira Leimane, Carole D Mitnick, Joia S Mukherjee, Paul Nunn, Alexander Pasechnikov, Thelma Tupasi, Charles Wells, and Mario C Raviglione.
• Stop TB Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. nathansone@who.int
• Emerging Infect. Dis. 2006 Sep 1; 12 (9): 1389-97.

AbstractEvidence of successful management of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB) is mainly generated from referral hospitals in high-income countries. We evaluate the management of MDRTB in 5 resource-limited countries: Estonia, Latvia, Peru, the Philippines, and the Russian Federation. All projects were approved by the Green Light Committee for access to quality-assured second-line drugs provided at reduced price for MDRTB management. Of 1047 MDRTB patients evaluated, 119 (11%) were new, and 928 (89%) had received treatment previously. More than 50% of previously treated patients had received both first- and second-line drugs, and 65% of all patients had infections that were resistant to both first- and second-line drugs. Treatment was successful in 70% of all patients, but success rate was higher among new (77%) than among previously treated patients (69%). In resource-limited settings, treatment of MDRTB provided through, or in collaboration with, national TB programs can yield results similar to those from wealthier settings.

26 keywords...

hide…