Treatment
Tuberculosis preventive treatment (TPT)
Treatment offered to people considered at risk of tuberculosis to reduce that risk. Also referred to as “treatment of M. tuberculosis infection” or “tuberculosis preventive therapy”.
Treatment success (treatment outcome)
A person with tuberculosis whose treatment outcome is either ‘cured’ or ‘completed’.
Treatment support
An approach to supporting patients who are taking prescribed doses of anti-tuberculosis drugs, to help ensure adherence to treatment and maximize its efficacy.
Treatment supporter
Trained health worker or trained and supervised community member who directly observes a TB or DR-TB patient’s treatment. When it is not convenient for a person with tuberculosis to visit a health facility during regular hours, a community-based treatment supporter may be selected to directly observe the person’s treatment at a more convenient place and time or through the use of novel technologies (video-DOT), which might not observe TB treatment in real time.
Treatment failed (treatment outcome)
A person whose anti-tuberculosis treatment regimen needed to be terminated or permanently changed to a new regimen or treatment strategy.
Treatment after failure patients
Persons previously treated for tuberculosis and whose treatment failed at the end of their most recent course of treatment.
Treatment after loss to follow-up patients
Persons who have previously been treated for tuberculosis and were declared lost to follow-up at the end of their most recent course of treatment.
Treatment completed (treatment outcome)
A person who completed anti-tuberculosis treatment as recommended by the national policy, whose outcome does not meet the definition for cure or treatment failure.
Standardized treatment
In the tuberculosis context, it is a treatment regimen that is the same for all patients with similar characteristics or a similar type of tuberculosis. This is the opposite of individualized treatment.
Second-line drug
Agent usually reserved for the treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis. First-line tuberculosis drugs used to treat drug-susceptible tuberculosis – ethambutol, isoniazid and pyrazinamide – may also be used in MDR-TB regimens.
