Science and Development Network
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Definitions
List of terms for Tuberculosis
D
Disease ratio
The ratio of people infected with tuberculosis to those actually developing the disease.
DOTS
Directly-Observed Therapy, Short Course; the World Health Organization's strategy for tuberculosis treatment. It requires microscopy-based diagnosis, a free supply of good quality drugs, supervised treatment where healthcare workers observe patients as they take their medicine and an evaluation system to monitor and control activities. The strategy also calls for political commitment to controlling the disease.
DOTS-plus
DOTS adapted to tackle multidrug-resistant tuberculosis by adding reserve, or second-line, anti-tuberculosis drugs for patients who have undergone drug susceptibility testing or who have failed supervised re-treatment.
Drug susceptibility testing
A test done in a culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to determine which anti-tuberculosis drugs are effective against that particular sample.
