Antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity is uncommon in Tanzanian hospitalized pulmonary TB patients

Data on antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity in sub Saharan Africa are limited, probably because liver function tests are not carried out routinely during tuberculosis treatment in most African countries. We monitored the liver function of 112 Tanzanian hospitalized pulmonary tuberculosis patients during the first 2 months (i.e. the intensive phase) of tuberculosis treatment. The rate of hepatotoxicity in our study was 0.9% (95% CI 0.04-4.3%). It is encouraging to find a lower rate of antituberculosis drug-induced hepatotoxicity than one would expect based on the high prevalence of risk factors such as HIV and hepatitis B.