[Clinical and epidemiological aspects of controlled short-term chemotherapy]

The current aspects of controlled short-term chemotherapy are reviewed. The efficiency and mechanism of action of various agents are evaluated, with emphasis laid on their effects of mycobacterial population, including drug-resistant Mycobacteria tuberculosis. Treatment of new cases isolating M. tuberculosis is shown to be a priority under the present epidemiological conditions, which stopped the spread of infection in the human community and reduces the infection and disease rates. The programmes of controlled chemotherapy in different patients recommended by the WHO and the International Tuberculosis and Pulmonary Diseases Control Union are analyzed. This leads to the conclusion that the programmed chemotherapy with clear identification of groups of patients and well-defined drug combinations, the fixed duration of treatment and the calculated required doses for therapy can drastically reduce tuberculosis morbidity and mortality rates drastically.