The Treatment of Latent Tuberculosis Infection: Province Based Practice and Problems

Objective: To investigate the treatment indications and compliance of individuals who underwent preventive treatment for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in Turkey at the provincial level. Material and Methods: The data were collected retrospectively from records of 1,147 tuberculosis (TB) patients who have been followed-up in Elazığ TB Dispensary between the years 2005 and 2013. Results: Preventive treatment of LTBI was applied to 1,264 registered individuals for the indication of various factors. The causative factors for initiating preventive therapy were the history of contact with TB patients (55.1%), immunosuppression (28.2%), tuberculin skin test (TST) positivity (8.2%), TST conversion (0.1%) and for other reasons (8.4%). Of the patients, 66.3% had completed preventive treatment with success, however, 33.4% have abandoned their therapies. All of the patients have used isoniazid as preventive drug treatment. Conclusion: Preventive treatment for LTBI was applied most frequently with the indication of contact history with TB and the second indication was immunocompromised patients either by getting the drug or having a disease that is susceptible to TB infection. Unfortunately, the results of the study suggested that rates of completed treatment were not high enough.