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DOTS: a five-point strategy.

1997; National Institutes of Health; Volume: 20; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

Paul Chinnock,

Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends treating tuberculosis (TB) using the DOTS (directly observed treatment short course) approach in which TB patients are observed swallowing each dose of their medicines by a health worker or trained volunteer. DOTS involves the use of anti-TB drugs given in combination. The 5 elements of the strategy are described, each of which is essential in order for any DOTS program to reach the target cure rate of 85%. While TB workers in some countries claim that they already achieve high cure rates without DOTS, WHO argues that it is unlikely that any program not using DOTS is achieving a rate of 85% or higher. In developing countries not using DOTS, cure rates are rarely higher than 50% and are often far lower. Despite a major TB campaign run by WHO's Global TB Program which actively promotes the application of DOTS, worldwide, only 10% of TB patients are treated using the approach.