Table 1

Combination therapy to prevent acquired drug resistance is an essential component of the treatment of TB and should almost certainly be applied to the NTM as well. Single drugs, no matter how efficacious, are subject to selection of drug-resistant variants, leading to clinical resistance to the individual agent. The principle that drug A kills bacilli resistant to drug В and drug В kills bacilli resistant to drug A mandates that in virtually all cases, multiple drugs be used for active disease. Suggested regimens (Table 1) and individual agents employed for groups I, II, and III (Table 2) and group IV (Table 3) are delineated in tabular form.