[TREATMENT OF LATENT TUBERCULOSIS INFECTION WITH A COMBINATION OF ISONIAZID AND RIFAMPICIN]

[Purpose] To conduct a literature review on clin- ical studies and national guidelines in various countries, for the purposes of facilitating discussion regarding whether latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) treatment regimens com- posed of isoniazid and rifampicin should be introduced in Japan. [Methods] For clinical studies, 23 non-randomized studies and 10 randomized studies in the literature were reviewed. [Results] In patients who had received treatments com- posed of isoniazid and rifampicin ([HR]; largely 3 months), compared with those who had received isoniazid monother- apy ([H]; largely 6 to 9 months), both frequency and sever- ity of liver dysfunction tended to be reduced, but adverse drug effects increased in general. Treatment completion rate tended to be higher in those who had received HR than in those who had received H. Preventive effects of HR seemed to be at least equivalent, or somewhat superior, to H. Many national guidelines of the European Union and other coun- tries reviewed in this study recommended HR as an LTBI treatment regimen, and generally provided a high level of evidence. [Conclusion] 3HR treatment has been well studied in many clinical and randomized studies, and seems to have garnered a high level of merit in order to be introduced as one of the LTBI treatment regimens in Japan.