ABSTRACT
In the context of tuberculosis (TB) control, the term preventive therapy is a misnomer in that in most circumstances, preventive therapy should be considered as "early treatment" or "secondary prevention." Preventive therapy refers to the treatment of patients who are known or likely to be infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, but without active disease, with. a simple regimen (usually isoniazid), with the intention of preventing TB in the future. Hence, the terminology "treatment of latent tuberculosis infection" has recently been adopted rather than "preventive therapy" to better and more specifically describe this strategy. Both terms will be used in the text that follows.
