HIGH in the hills of Nepal, communities have a new weapon in the fight against tuberculosis. It isn’t an expensive drug or vaccine – it is simply using family support to make sure that someone with TB completes the six-month course of medicine necessary to cure the disease.
Until now, health workers have had to watch patients to check that they take their drugs on a daily basis, or risk them having a relapse or even developing a drug-resistant form of TB.
However, a trial in Nepal led by James Newell of the University of Leeds, UK, proves that the regime…
