Despite advanced disease at presentation and a high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus coinfection, children with MDR-tuberculosis can be treated successfully, using individualized treatment under routine conditions.

Younger children require higher doses of isoniazid per kilogram of body weight to achieve isoniazid concentrations similar to those in adults. A daily isoniazid dose of 8-12 mg/kg should be recommended.

Background: Rifampin is a key drug in antituberculosis chemotherapy because it rapidly kills the majority of bacilli in tuberculosis lesions, prevents relapse and thus enables 6-month short-course chemotherapy. Little is known about the pharmacokinetics of rifampin in children. The objective of this study was to evaluate the pharmacokinetics of rifampin in children with tuberculosis, both human immunodeficiency virus type-1-infected and human immunodeficiency virus-uninfected.