View clinical trials related to Latent Tuberculosis Infection.
Filter by:Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains the most important infectious disease in the world. Keys to successful control of TB is rapid diagnosis, prompt treatment, as well as effective preventive therapy for contacts with latent TB infection (LTBI). Current methods for the diagnosis of LTBI are tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). For preventive therapy, the recommended regimens include daily isoniazid for 9 months and daily rifampicin for 4 months. By incorporating long-acting rifapentine, a new regimen combining weekly rifapentine and high-dose isoniazid for a total of 12 doses has been proven of equal potency and toxicity. However, the treatment completion rate is much higher in weekly treatment for 3 months than daily treatment for 9 months. It is reasonable that using rifapentine-based preventive therapy can markedly increase the completion rate. However, study is lacking, especially in Asia, the high endemic area of TB. With the effort of all health care workers and public health personnel, the incidence of TB in Taiwan has gradually declined in recent 10 years. In order to maintain the trend of decreasing in incidence, preventive therapy for LTBI become more and more important. However, which is the best preventive regimen for LTBI is still unknown. Therefore, we conduct the prospective randomized multicenter studies to compare the treatment completion rate of two regimens in Taiwan. The first regimen is daily isoniazid for 9 months. The second is weekly rifapentine plus high-dose isoniazid for 3 months.
This study will examine the impact of use of mobile phones and text messaging on adherence to treatment for patients with latent TB infection. Half (50%) of the 350 anticipated study participants will receive weekly text messages inquiring on their health status in relation to their prescribed treatment, while the other half (50%) will not receive weekly text messages at all. Medical adherence will be assessed by monthly blood-work, clinic visits and by interviewing patients at each of these visits. The investigators hypothesis is that enhanced communication with a health care provider, via a structured cell phone SMS text messaging based program (WelTel), will result in a 15% improvement in the proportion of patients who successfully complete their LTBI treatment regimens.
Though still an endemic area, the incidence of tuberculosis (TB) in Taiwan is decreasing in recent years. Further reduction in TB incidence, or even elimination should rely on treatment for LTBI. However, which is the cost-effective screening method or what is the cost-effective regimen in Taiwan is still unclear. Therefore, the investigators designed this prospective study to follow up adult household contacts with LTBI for 2 years and compare the efficacy of 9-month isoniazid and 4-month rifampicin).