Table 4

Adverse reactions to the main antituberculosis drugs

Drug	Common reactions	Uncommon reactions	Rare reactions
Isoniazid		Hepatitis	Giddiness
		Cutaneous hypersensitivity	Convulsion
		Peripheral neuropathy	Optic neuritis
			Mental symptoms
			Haemolytic anaemia
			Aplastic anaemia
			Sideroblastic anaemia
			Agranulocytosis
			Lupoid reactions
			Arthralgia
			Gynaecomastia

Rifampicin		Hepatitis	Shortness of breath^4-150
		Cutaneous reactions	Shock^4-150
		Gastrointestinal reactions	Haemolytic anaemia^4-150
		Thrombocytopenic purpura^4-150	Acute renal failure^4-150
		Febrile reactions
		‘Flu-syndrome’^4-150

Pyrazinamide	Anorexia	Hepatitis	Gout
	Nausea	Vomiting	Photosensitisation
	Flushing	Arthralgia
		Hyperuricaemia
		Cutaneous hypersensitivity

Ethambutol		Retrobulbar neuritis	Hepatitis
		Arthralgia	Cutaneous hypersensitivity
			Peripheral neuropathy

↵4-150 Much more common with intermittent than with daily therapy.
Modified from Chan SL, in Clinical tuberculosis (Davies PDO, ed), 1994, Chapman Hall, London with permission.