[The importance of estimating the individual acetylation rate in modern tuberculosis treatment]

Abstract

Modern tuberculosis treatment suggests the intermittent regimens of isoniazid twice or once weekly. To be able to use this procedure, one would require to know the acetylation rate of patients. The advantages of the sulfamethazine acetylation test are, firstly, the method of estimation is simple, requiring only colorimeter or a visible range spectrophotometer. Secondly, the results are available on the same day. Thirdly, specimens do not require cold storage. The findings of the present study indicates that, 62.5 percent of subjects were slow acetylators and 37.5 percent of subjects were rapid acetylators.