Isoprodian and rifampicin in the treatment of leprosy: a descriptive evaluation of therapy durations in 475 Paraguayan leprosy patients

• Published in: Chemotherapy (Basel) Vol. 35; no. 5; p. 373
• Main Authors: Pritze, S, Alvarenga, A E, Leguizamon, O, Haubitz, I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland 1989
• Subjects: Dapsone - therapeutic use; Drug Combinations - therapeutic use; Drug Therapy, Combination; Humans; Isoniazid - therapeutic use; Isonicotinic Acids - therapeutic use; Leprostatic Agents - therapeutic use; Leprosy - drug therapy; Leprosy, Borderline - drug therapy; Leprosy, Lepromatous - drug therapy; Leprosy, Tuberculoid - drug therapy; Mycobacterium leprae - drug effects; Mycobacterium leprae - isolation & purification; Paraguay; Patient Compliance; Prothionamide - therapeutic use; Rifampin - therapeutic use; Time Factors; Paraguay
• ISSN: 0009-3157
• DOI: 10.1159/000238698

In Paraguay, the National Leprosy/Tuberculosis Program is based on a combined chemotherapy with isoprodian and rifampicin. The aim of this descriptive study was to investigate the therapy durations used so far in the treatment of 475 leprosy patients and to analyze the criteria responsible for the wide-ranging differences in therapy durations. As initial criteria, the following parameters were identified to have a significant influence on the therapy duration: Patients never treated before or pretreated, clinical classification and initial bacteriological index (BI) value. During therapy, conditions like the attendance and BI decrease/year showed a significant correlation with the therapy duration. Even though the studied criteria did not allow to draw a definite conclusion with regard to an 'ideal' therapy duration, they proved to be reliable, as only 2 patients have relapsed so far.