@article{15294,
  keywords = {Adolescent, Adult, Aged, Child, Clinical Trials as Topic, Dapsone, Drug Therapy, Combination, Female, Humans, leprosy, Male, Methods, Middle Aged, Random Allocation, Rifampin},
  author = {Yawalkar S J and McDougall A C and Languillon J and Ghosh S and Hajra S K and Opromolla D V and Tonello C J},
  title = {Once-monthly rifampicin plus daily dapsone in initial treatment of lepromatous leprosy.},
  abstract = {<p>In an international multicentre controlled single-blind trial of 93 previously untreated lepromatous leprosy patients the therapeutic effects of adding rifampicin, 450 mg/day orally or 1,200 mg once monthly in a single oral dose, to dapsone (50 mg/day orally) for the first 6 months of treatment were compared. Clinical and histopathological improvements and bacteriological regression, indicated by the decreases in the bacterial and morphological indices of the skin and nose-blow smears, were satisfactory and practically identical after 6 months' treatment. The once-monthly rifampicin schedule was better tolerated than the daily one. In view of the good therapeutic efficacy and tolerability, the much lower cost of treatment (about one-tenth of that of the daily rifampicin regimen) and the possibility of administration under supervision, once-monthly rifampicin given in a single oral 1,200 mg dose should be recommended, along with a standard dapsone regimen, for large-scale, initial, and intensive combination treatment of patients with lepromatous and borderline-lepromatous leprosy, to help prevent an increase in dapsone resistance. A third antileprosy drug (e.g., clofazimine) may be added to this initial dual-treatment regimen.</p>},
  year = {1982},
  journal = {Lancet (London, England)},
  volume = {1},
  pages = {1199-202},
  month = {1982 May 29},
  issn = {0140-6736},
  doi = {10.1016/s0140-6736(82)92334-0},
  language = {eng},
}