The Immediate Effectiveness of Isoniazid Chemoprophylaxis as Determined by the Tuberculin Test: A Five-Year Study Including 5,555 Navajo and Pueblo Children from Birth to 15 Years of Age and the Use of Isonicotinic Acid Hydrazide in the Prevention of Tuberculosis

Abstract

Animal experimentation has shown that isoniazid (INH) in the drinking water has a protective effect against tuberculous infection in guinea pigs.’ There is also evidence that this drug will, in some instances, revert the tuberculin reaction to negative in children.”3’4 A large scale test of chemoprophylaxis has been carried out by the United States Public Health Service to determine the protection offered by INH against progressive and fatal forms of tuberculosis in infants and children.’ To determine the ultimate effect upon endogenous reinfection and pulmonary tuberculosis such a test would require a follow-up period of over ten years. Dr. Carl Gellenthien, Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs of the American College of Chest Physicians, conceived and originated controlled studies of the effect of INH in treating and preventing tubercubus infection of the Navajo and Pueblo Indian children of New Mexico.