Tuberculosis treatment outcomes: directly observed therapy compared with self-administered therapy.

Effective treatment of tuberculosis requires adherence to a minimum of 6 months treatment with multiple drugs. To improve adherence and cure rates, directly observed therapy is recommended for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. We compared treatment outcomes among all culture-positive patients treated for active pulmonary tuberculosis (n = 372) in San Francisco County, California from 1998 through 2000.