Injectables' key role in rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis shorter treatment regimen outcomes.

Background: Since a meta-analysis showed little or no effect of second-line injectables on treatment success, and using injectables may induce ototoxicity, injectable-free rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) treatment regimens are recommended. However, acquired resistance preventing activity was overlooked. No previous study assessed the effect of shortening the duration of kanamycin administration to 2 months during the intensive phase of the RR-TB shorter treatment regimen (STR).

Molecular characterization and drug susceptibility profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from Northeast Bangladesh.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem worldwide including in Bangladesh. Molecular epidemiological tools provide genotyping profiles of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) strains that can give insight into the transmission of TB in a specific region.

Outcome of 6 months MBMDT in MB patients in Bangladesh- preliminary results.

Introduction: Duration of leprosy treatment remains long and difficult to complete in resource poor areas. Studies suggest that shortening duration of therapy for MB patients to 6 months may be possible.

Methods: New MB patients in 2005 in two NGO projects in Bangladesh were treated with 6 months WHO MB MDT and the rate of relapse and fall in BI on slit skin smear during follow up to date were compared with a control group treated for 12 months the previous year.

Increasing Cervical Cancer Awareness and Screening in Jamaica: Effectiveness of a Theory-Based Educational Intervention.

Despite declines in cervical cancer mortality in developed countries, cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates remain high in Jamaica due to low levels of screening. Effective interventions are needed to decrease barriers to preventive behaviors and increase adoption of behaviors and services to improve prospects of survival. We enrolled 225 women attending health facilities in an intervention consisting of a pre-test, educational presentation and post-test.

Short, highly effective, and inexpensive standardized treatment of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis.

Rationale: Based on expert opinion, the global guidelines for management of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis impose lengthy and often poorly tolerated treatments.

Objectives: This observational study evaluates the effectiveness of standardized regimens for patients with proven multidrug-resistant tuberculosis previously untreated with second-line drugs in low-income countries.

Methods: Consenting patients were sequentially assigned to one of six standardized treatment regimens.

Turning liabilities into resources: informal village doctors and tuberculosis control in Bangladesh.

In 1998, the Damien Foundation Bangladesh invited semi-qualified, private "gram dakter" (Bangla for "village doctors") to participate in tuberculosis (TB) programmes in a population of 26 million people in rural Bangladesh. The organization trained 12 525 village doctors to not only refer suspected TB cases for free diagnosis but also to provide directly observed treatment (DOT) free of charge. Source of referral and place of DOT was recorded as part of the standardized TB recording and reporting system, which enabled us to quantify the contribution of village doctors to case detection rates and also allowed disaggregated cohort analysis of treatment outcome.