Comparative evaluation of three and six month therapeutic regimens for smear negative pulmonary tuberculosis

Both smears positive and negative Pulmonary Tuberculosis (PTB) patients are routinely treated by six month therapeutic regimen. The aim of this study was to compare three and six month regimens chemotherapy for smear negative PTB among tuberculosis patients. Fifty-two patients with smear negative PTB randomly divided into two groups took part in this comparative clinical trial study. The patients in first group were treated with our recommended regimen (rifampicin, isoniazide, and ofloxacin) and another group with standard regimen according directly observed treatment short course strategy. Cure rates in first and second group were 96.5% and 100% respectively. There was no difference between two groups in responding to anti tuberculosis chemotherapy (p > 0.05). This study showed that three month therapeutic regimen is as effective as six month therapeutic regimen and may be considered effective treatment for adult patients with unprogressive smear negative PTB.