This study from East Africa, conducted before HIV infection influenced treatment outcome shows the role of a companion drug in the continuation phase.

Patients with fully susceptible organisms could be treated successfully with isoniazid alone in the continuation phase with few treatment failures and relapses.  If there was initial isoniazid resistance, thioacetazone prevented failure in a considerable proportion of cases.  However, because of thioacetazone's relative weakness, treatment failures with functional thioacetazone monotherapy were much more frequent than with isoniazid monotherapy.  In these cases of failure, resistance to thioacetazone had been acquired by definition.  Furthermore, relapses were frequent.

To top