A study has provided the first hard evidence that outpatient community care in poor, urban shantytowns can work for the most difficult to treat form of tuberculosis. The multidrug-resistant tuberculosis treatment model could ultimately help save hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide. Among those who completed at least four months of therapy, the percentage with probable cures in this community-based study was 83 percent, as high as any reported to date, even in hospital settings.
