Treatment outcomes of adults with new onset pulmonary tuberculosis in Pretoria, South Africa

A persistently high burden of tuberculosis (TB) and low cure rates in South Africa call for frequent assessment of the effectiveness of the TB programme. We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate treatment outcomes and associated factors among new TB patients taking standard regimen 1 TB treatment during 2010 in Pretoria, using the World Health Organization’s six treatment outcomes classification. The 85 participants (of whom 59% were female) had co-infection with HIV in 70%. A total of 52% completed treatment, but only 15% were officially cured; 13% died and only 35% had an end-of-treatment sputum test. The treatment success rate (cured and complete treatment) was 67%. Completion of TB treatment was associated with HIV status (P = 0.02) and TB diagnosis using only sputum smear test (P = 0.02). Our results suggest non-compliance with standard TB guidelines by healthcare workers. We therefore advise future interventions should target both patients and healthcare workers.