How to choose a treatment regimen for apparent MDR tuberculosis?
We assume that all patients with apparent drug resistant tuberculosis will have bacilli resistant to isoniazid. Patients with additional resistance or suspected resistance to streptomycin and/or thioacetazone(but not to rifampicin)should respond well to the WHO standard retreatment regimen(2HRZES/1HRZE)in the initial phase. The following therefore applies to MDR patients with resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin, patients considered to have failed on the WHO standard retreatmenr regimen, and other patients who have received a variety of bad regimens outside national programmes. The following need to be taken into account • Which regimens patients had previously received • Whether the patient took all the drugs in each regimen prescribed and for how long • to find out what happened bacteriologically in terms of sputum positivity at least by direct smear, if possible also by culture and susceptibility tests)during and after administration of regimen. Clinical or radiological d
