Definition of treatment outcomes
| Outcomes at the end of treatment | |
| Failure | AFB microscopies or cultures positive at 5 months or later during treatment |
| Cure | Treatment completed with disappearance of signs and symptoms and ≥2 AFB smears or cultures with negative results at the end of therapy |
| Treatment completion | Completion of treatment without meeting the criteria to be classified as a cure or failure |
| Death during treatment | Death due to any cause during treatment |
| Default | Interruption of treatment for ≥2 consecutive months |
| Transfer out | Patient transferred to another institution outside the study region |
| Outcomes after treatment was completed | |
| Recurrence | A second or subsequent episode of TB confirmed by AFB smear or culture in a patient with a history of prior treatment |
| Relapse | TB disease confirmed by AFB smear or culture that occurred after a patient was considered to have completed treatment or to have been cured. Relapse patients are included within recurrent TB |
| Reinfections | Subsequent TB episodes (recurrences and relapses) with the same genotype: ≥6 IS6110 bands in an identical pattern or <6 bands with identical IS6110 RFLP patterns and a spoligotype with the same spacer oligonucleotides |
| Deaths after TB treatment was completed | |
| Death due to TB | Deaths were attributed to TB based on two of the following: death certificate with TB as the main cause of death; interview with a close caregiver who identified TB as a probable cause of death; or positive AFB smear or culture at the time of death |
AFB, acid-fast bacilli; RFLP, restriction fragment length polymorphisms; TB, tuberculosis.