Short oral treatment regimens for rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis are safe and effective for young children: results from a field-based, non-randomised clinical trial from Kandahar, Afghanistan

Clinical trials, evaluating 9-month/7-drug and 6-month/4-drug all-oral rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) treatment regimens showed that these are at least as effective and safer than previously used longer and injectable-containing regimens [1–4]. Findings directly informed World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for the treatment of adults with RR-TB, including pre-extensively drug-resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB; RR-TB with resistance to fluoroquinolones, FQ) [5]. However, children were not included in these trials. Especially for children with pre-XDR-TB, severe TB disease, or extrapulmonary TB (other than peripheral lymphadenitis) this has dire consequences. They are still treated with individualized 18-month regimens, which are not only longer, but also more toxic, less effective and with a higher pill burden than regimens for adults with a similar condition [5, 6]. Footnotes This manuscript has recently been accepted for publication in the European Respiratory Journal . It is published here in its accepted form prior to copyediting and typesetting by our production team. After these production processes are complete and the authors have approved the resulting proofs, the article will move to the latest issue of the ERJ online. Please open or download the PDF to view this article. Conflict of Interest: All authors have nothing to disclose.