A Short Regimen for Rifampin-Resistant Tuberculosis

Multidrug-resistant and rifampin-resistant tuberculosis remain a global health threat, with an estimated 558,000 cases and 230,000 deaths worldwide in 2017.1 Treatment is more difficult and more costly for these conditions than for drug-susceptible tuberculosis and relies on drugs that do not have a reasonable side-effect profile or that have serious side effects. In 2011, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued guidelines, based on low-quality observational data, for treating multidrug-resistant and rifampin-resistant tuberculosis with an 18-to-24-month course of multiple second-line agents, including injectable drugs. This regimen, when administered by routine tuberculosis treatment programs, has resulted in successful treatment in approximately 55% . . .