Laboratory aspects of intermittent drug therapy

Abstract
The drug-parasite relationships for isoniazid and rifampicin have been investigated, using cultures of M. tuberculosis and infected guinea-pigs. It is remarkable that there appear to be two entirely different mechanisms involved in intermittent chemotherapy with isoniazid and rifampicin. With isoniazid, any escape from the influence of the drug leads to diminished efficacy. On the other hand, with rifampicin, it is just this escape that promotes higher efficacy.