Incidence of adverse reactions to chemotherapy and their types in adolescents with tuberculosis

: During treatment, 65.7% of the patients developed adverse reactions to antituberculosis drugs. Allergic reactions were most commonly associated with the use of streptomycin. The simultaneous inclusion of isoniazid, rifampicin, and pyrazinamide into the treatment regimens irrespective of the total number of drugs was found to increase the incidence of hepatotoxic reactions as compared with the regimens which do not contain a combination of these 3 drugs. Cycloserin may be given to adolescents with multidrug resistant tuberculosis. Glutaminic acid prevents the toxic effect of the drug on the CNS, therefore cycloserin may be prescribed for a long period (for as long as 9 months).