A successful supervised outpatient short-course tuberculosis treatment program in an open refugee camp on the Thai-Cambodian border

Am Rev Respir Dis. 1984 Nov;130(5):827-30. doi: 10.1164/arrd.1984.130.5.827.

Abstract

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.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Ambulatory Care Facilities*
  • Antitubercular Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Cambodia / ethnology
  • Child
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Isoniazid / therapeutic use
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Patient Compliance
  • Pyrazinamide / therapeutic use
  • Refugees*
  • Rifampin / therapeutic use
  • Streptomycin / therapeutic use
  • Thailand
  • Time Factors
  • Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / drug therapy*

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents
  • Pyrazinamide
  • Isoniazid
  • Rifampin
  • Streptomycin