Tuberculosis Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Medication administration === [[Directly observed therapy]], i.e., having a health care provider watch the person take their medications, is recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) in an effort to reduce the number of people not appropriately taking antibiotics.<ref>{{cite book |vauthors = Mainous III AB |title=Management of Antimicrobials in Infectious Diseases: Impact of Antibiotic Resistance |publisher=Humana Press |location=Totowa, NJ |year=2010 |page=69 |isbn=978-1-60327-238-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hwVFAPLYznsC&pg=PA69 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150906215558/https://books.google.com/books?id=hwVFAPLYznsC&pg=PA69 |archive-date=6 September 2015 }}</ref> The evidence to support this practice over people simply taking their medications independently is of poor quality.<ref name=Karumbi2015 /> There is no strong evidence indicating that directly observed therapy improves the number of people who were cured or the number of people who complete their medicine.<ref name=Karumbi2015>{{cite journal | vauthors = Karumbi J, Garner P | title = Directly observed therapy for treating tuberculosis | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 5 | page= CD003343 | date = May 2015 | volume = 2015 | pmid = 26022367 | pmc = 4460720 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD003343.pub4 }}</ref> Moderate quality evidence suggests that there is also no difference if people are observed at home versus at a clinic, or by a family member versus a health care worker.<ref name=Karumbi2015 /> Methods to remind people of the importance of treatment and appointments may result in a small but important improvement.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Liu Q, Abba K, Alejandria MM, Sinclair D, Balanag VM, Lansang MA | title = Reminder systems to improve patient adherence to tuberculosis clinic appointments for diagnosis and treatment | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 11 | pages = CD006594 | date = November 2014 | volume = 2014 | pmid = 25403701 | pmc = 4448217 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD006594.pub3 | collaboration = Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group }}</ref> There is also not enough evidence to support intermittent rifampicin-containing therapy given two to three times a week has equal effectiveness as daily dose regimen on improving cure rates and reducing relapsing rates.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Mwandumba HC, Squire SB | title = Fully intermittent dosing with drugs for treating tuberculosis in adults | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 4 | pages = CD000970 | date = 23 October 2001 | pmid = 11687088 | pmc = 6532565 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD000970 | collaboration = Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group }}</ref> There is also not enough evidence on effectiveness of giving intermittent twice or thrice weekly short course regimen compared to daily dosing regimen in treating children with tuberculosis.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Bose A, Kalita S, Rose W, Tharyan P | title = Intermittent versus daily therapy for treating tuberculosis in children | journal = The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews | issue = 1 | pages = CD007953 | date = January 2014 | volume = 2014 | pmid = 24470141 | pmc = 6532685 | doi = 10.1002/14651858.CD007953.pub2 | collaboration = Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page