The New England journal of medicine
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study
Safety and Side Effects of Rifampin versus Isoniazid in Children.
The treatment of latent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is important in children because of their vulnerability to life-threatening forms of tuberculosis disease. The current standard treatment - 9 months of isoniazid - has been associated with poor adherence and toxic effects, which have hampered the effectiveness of the drug. In adults, treatment with 4 months of rifampin has been shown to be safer and to have higher completion rates than 9 months of isoniazid. ⋯ Among children under the age of 18 years, treatment with 4 months of rifampin had similar rates of safety and efficacy but a better rate of adherence than 9 months of treatment with isoniazid. (Funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00170209 .).