Interventions for Tuberculosis Control and Elimination
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To summarize the "Bangladesh regimen", 7 drugs are given in an intensive phase that lasts for a mandatory duration of 4 months. If sputum smears are still positive at four months, the treatment is prolonged until conversion is achieved or failure must be declared. The continuation phase is of a fixed duration of 5 months and contains four drugs throughout, gativloxacin, ethambutol, pyrazinamide, and clofazimine.
This regimen was highly successful in a patient population without HIV infection and virtually no resistance to fluoroquinolones and injectable drugs other than streptomycin.
Further studies (in preparation by The Union) how this regimen fares in other settings, notably settings with HIV infection among the patient population are now the next step. For the time being, this regimen offers a viable alternative for settings with little prior use of second-line drugs and offers for the first time a tangible possibility to move treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis closer to the patient's residence as the freuqency of adverse drug events that require sophisticated management by specialists is very rare.
