Effect of tubuculosis (TB) control strategy on smear positive rate of patients

Objective This study was intended to explore the relationships between different TB control strategies and the occurrence of retreatment smear positive cases.Method To compare recorded TB data before and after the implementation of the World Bank Loaned TB control project in NingXia by using χ 2 and linear correlation analysis.Results Before implementation of the TB control project, the rate of cure new cases of smear positive TB cases was 34.33%. At the same time, the smear positive TB cases needed retreatment was as high as 68.79%. After implementing the new strategy named Short Course Chemotherapy, the rate of cure new cases of smear positive TB increased to over 95%, while the cases needed retreatment was decreased to 18.27%. There was a negative correlation between the cure rate of the new cases of smear positive TB and the proportion of smear positive TB cases needed retreatment.Conclusion The new short course chemotherapy strategy of TB control effectively reduced the occurrence of new smear positive TB cases and multiple drug resistance TB cases.