Clinical Monitoring of TB patients

Clinical description

Patients with extra-pulmonary TB or those who were diagnosed on clinical grounds without bacteriological confirmation of TB should be monitored clinically over the duration of treatment.

Weight is a useful indicator of clinical improvement and should be monitored monthly. If there is poor response to treatment, alternative diagnoses and the possibility of drug resistance must be considered.

Sputum AFB result for smear negative patient may be done if the patient later develops a cough or shows clinical deterioration. If the smear microscopy turns positive before reporting the case on case finding, the patient should be re-classified the patient as a bacteriologically confirmed TB case and the recommendations for monitoring, as described above, should be followed.