01850nas a2200313   4500000000100000008004100001260001700042653001500059653001000074653001200084653003000096653001100126653001100137653001200148653000900160653001600169653001800185653001300203100001300216700001600229700001500245700001400260245010500274300001100379490000700390050003200397520109300429022001401522       1992                            d  c1992 Jul-Sep10aAdolescent10aAdult10aDapsone10aDrug Therapy, Combination10aFemale10aHumans10aleprosy10aMale10aMiddle Aged10aProthionamide10aRifampin1 aKatoch K1 aNatarajan M1 aBhatia A S1 aYadav V S00aTreatment of paucibacillary leprosy with a regimen containing rifampicin, dapsone and prothionamide.  a303-120 v64  aInfolep Library - available3 a<p>Ninety paucibacillary leprosy patients having indeterminate (I), tuberculoid (TT) and borderline tuberculoid (BT) type of leprosy with bacterial index (BI) of less than two on the Ridley scale were treated with rifampicin (RFM) 600 mg once a month, dapsone (DDS) 100 mg daily and prothionamide (PTH) 250 mg daily. Treatment was stopped at the end of six months. The patients tolerated the drugs fairly well and in only two patients the drugs had to be stopped (in one due to jaundice and in the other due to gastric intolerance). About 6% of patients had early reactions which subsided with additional steroid therapy. The inactivity rate was 60% at six months and this improved to 96% at 12 months. No cases of late reactions and relapses were encountered in the limited follow-up period of six months; and a longer follow-up is necessary for ascertaining the relapse rates. The preliminary results however suggest that the addition of prothionamide to the standard WHO paucibacillary regimen is well-tolerated with increased inactivity rate and fewer instances of late reactions.</p>  a0254-9395