A SUCCESSFUL SUPERVISED OUTPATIENT SHORT-COURSE TUBERCULOSIS TREATMENT PROGRAM IN AN OPEN REFUGEE CAMP ON THE THAI-CAMBODIAN BORDER

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Abstract
The operation of a tuberculosis treatment program in an open refugee camp of 45,000 refugees on the Thai-Cambodian border is described. Patients (58) received 6 mo. of supervised daily, outpatient therapy with a protocol employing isoniazid, rifampin, streptomycin and pyrazinamide. Patient compliance was high, with only 15 of 10,209 patient days being missed, despite a high incidence of minor side effects. Three patients died, 4 defaulted and 1 moved to another camp for treatment. The therapies of 4 patients were extended because of the need for reduced medication doses, extrapulmonary disease development, treatment failure and slow infiltrate resolution on radiographs. There was 1 late relapse. The feasibility of integrating short-course therapies with program designs to produce high compliance under difficult field conditions was demonstrated.