Use of Asynchronous Video Directly Observed Therapy for Treatment of Tuberculosis and Latent Tuberculosis Infection in a Long-Term–Care Facility — Puerto Rico, 2016–2017

• Published in: MMWR. Morbidity and mortality weekly report Vol. 66; no. 50; pp. 1386 - 1387
• Main Authors: Olano-Soler, Henry, Thomas, Dana, Joglar, Olga, Rios, Katrina, Torres-Rodríguez, Milton, Duran-Guzman, Greduvel, Chorba, Terence
• Format: Journal Article Newsletter
• Language: English
• Published: Atlanta Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 22.12.2017; U.S. Government Printing Office; U.S. Center for Disease Control
• Subjects: Acquired immune deficiency syndrome; AIDS; Compliance; Conflicts of interest; Disease control; Disease prevention; Drug therapy; Hepatitis; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Infections; Internet; Long term care; Long term care facilities; Notes from the Field; Patient compliance; Patients; Public health; Therapy; Tuberculosis; Maryland
• DOI: 10.15585/mmwr.mm6650a5
• ISSN: 0149-2195

Olano-Soler et al provide details on the use of asynchronous video directly observed therapy (VDOT) for treatment of tuberculosis and latent tuberculosis infection in a long-term-care facility in Puerto Rico from 2016-2017. VDOT uses video and computer equipment that allows public health officials to observe patients taking medications for TB, and it has been successfully used to ensure proper completion of TB treatment. VDOT has been demonstrated to be cost-effective in multiple settings. The CDC has developed an eDOT toolkit to facilitate adoption of these practices.