Under NTEP, two patients finish their anti-tuberculosis therapy. Patient X has documented sputum smear conversion during follow-up and is smear-negative at the end of treatment. Patient Y completes the full course but no end-of-treatment sputum examination was done. Their recorded treatment outcomes respectively are:

• A Both are recorded as 'Cured'
• B Both are recorded as 'Treatment completed'
• C X is 'Treatment completed', Y is 'Lost to follow-up'
• D X is 'Cured', Y is 'Treatment completed' ✓

Explanation

'Cured' requires bacteriological proof: a positive pretreatment sputum that becomes negative at the end of treatment AND on at least one earlier follow-up occasion. 'Treatment completed' is assigned when the patient finishes the regimen but lacks this documented bacteriological confirmation, exactly the situation of patient Y. Lost to follow-up refers to interruption of treatment for two or more consecutive months, which does not apply here since both completed the course.

Reference: Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine, 27th ed.

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Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.