Adult

Health-seeking norms for tuberculosis symptoms in southern Angola: implications for behaviour change communications

SETTING A passive case-finding strategy as present in the DOTS strategy presupposes a patient's willingness to seek care. This requires awareness of tuberculosis (TB) symptoms and the diagnostic process, and positive attitudes towards access and …

National anti-tuberculosis drug resistance study in Tanzania

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in a national representative sample of tuberculosis (TB) patients in Tanzania according to recommended methodology. DESIGN: Cluster survey, with 40 clusters sampled proportional …

Projection of the number of patients with tuberculosis in the Netherlands in 2030

BACKGROUND: The incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in The Netherlands has been declining for many years. For the purpose of planning future TB-control activities we estimated the number of TB patients in The Netherlands up to 2030. METHODS: Statistical …

Annual meeting of the Tuberculosis Surveillance and Research Unit, 2008

The Tuberculosis Surveillance and Research Unit (TSRU) held its last annual meeting in Helsinki, Finland, from 1 to 4 April 2008. Several topics of current interest for tuberculosis (TB) research and new research projects were presented and discussed …

Patient-centred tuberculosis treatment delivery under programmatic conditions in Tanzania: a cohort study

BACKGROUND: Directly observed therapy (DOT) remains the cornerstone of the global tuberculosis (TB) control strategy. Tanzania, one of the 22 high-burden countries regarding TB, changed the first-line treatment regimen to contain …

Tuberculosis prevalence surveys: rationale and cost

This article is the first of the educational series 'Assessing tuberculosis (TB) prevalence through population-based surveys'. The series will give overall guidance in conducting cross-sectional surveys of pulmonary TB (PTB) disease. TB prevalence …

Pharmacokinetic parameters of nevirapine and efavirenz in relation to antiretroviral efficacy

Optimal adherence is essential for successful antiretroviral therapy. We analyzed the relation between minimum plasma drug concentration (Cmin) and total drug exposure over 24 hr (AUC24) with virologic failure for therapy-adherent patients in the …

Pharmacokinetics of nevirapine: once-daily versus twice-daily dosing in the 2NN study

OBJECTIVE: As part of the large international, randomized 2NN trial, the pharmacokinetics of nevirapine in once-daily 400 mg and twice-daily 200 mg dosing regimens were investigated. METHOD: Treatment-naive HIV-1-infected patients were randomized to …

Plasma HIV-1 RNA decline within the first two weeks of treatment is comparable for nevirapine, efavirenz, or both drugs combined and is not predictive of long-term virologic efficacy: A 2NN substudy

BACKGROUND: The initial rate of plasma HIV-1 RNA (pVL) decline has been proposed as a marker of early efficacy of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and a possible predictor of late efficacy. We compared the rate of pVL decline in patients starting ART …

The effect of baseline CD4 cell count and HIV-1 viral load on the efficacy and safety of nevirapine or efavirenz-based first-line HAART

BACKGROUND: A substantial number of patients start their first-line antiretroviral therapy at an advanced stage of an HIV-1 infection. Potential differences between specific drug regimens in antiviral efficacy and safety in these patients are of …