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About 5% of patients treated for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) with the standard 6-month regimens relapse following treatment. Identifying individuals at increased risk for relapse would be of great practical benefit. To assess whether differences in initial drug susceptibility might affect therapy outcomes, investigators examined Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) isolates from patients enrolled in treatment trials for drug-susceptible pulmonary TB.
The researchers first compared the in vitro isoniazid and rifampin minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs), along with clinical, radiologic, and laboratory data, in 54 patients who relapsed and in 63 patients who did not relapse. They found that a higher baseline isoniazid or rifampin MIC (although…