Abstract
Objectives: To evaluate and review the tuberculosis situation in various populations at high risk of
contracting tuberculosis, at various periods of time and general tuberculosis control outcomes in northern
Thailand.
Methods: Data on various high-risk populations were analyzed from the DOTS database and special
project paper-based record systems for various high-risk populations in areas of northern Thailand in
various periods of time.
Results: The 2003 and 2004 reports showed 30 and 60 percent of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
respectively with cure rates of less than 60 percent of the registered cases. The 2004 report revealed that
tuberculosis was the most common opportunistic infection (38.9%) among the HIV-seropositive/AIDS
cases. Reports of isoniazid therapy for tuberculosis prevention among HIV-seropositive/AIDS populations
showed that 78 percent of them had not developed tuberculosis at the end of the 24th month since
starting therapy. The 2005 report demonstrated that only 3.2 and 37.1 percent of the suspected childhood
tuberculosis cases were diagnosed as tuberculosis and latent infection cases, respectively.
There were no statistically significant correlations between the types of the patient observers and the
cure rates among the general tuberculosis population analyzed from the 2003 report (Pearson correlation
coefficients > 0.01, 2-tailed). There also were no statistically significant changes or improvement in the
treatment outcomes (sputum conversion rates, default rates, death rates, and treatment success rates),
when comparing the 2003 and 2004 reports (p > 0.01).
Conclusions: These findings indicate the DOTS program implementation was not well-developed
for various populations at high risk of tuberculosis in these areas. Recording and reporting systems for
childhood tuberculosis cases in this area still were not well-developed and this contributed to
underreporting of this section of the high-risk population.
