Abstract
Background: Previous tubercular treatment is known to be a strong determinant for development of drug resistance.
Objectives: To assess for drug resistance at the start of re-treatment in tubercular patients attending our Institute.
Methods: 111 smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients [relapse (72), failure (26), and defaulter (13); age ≥ 15 years; 86 male] were included. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) was done using Lowenstein-Jensen media (LJDST) in all patients and Middlebrook 7H12 media (RMDST) in 37 patients.
Results: 41.50% of patients in relapse group, 85.71% in failure group, and 70% in default group had drug resistance over LJDST. Using RMDST, 63.63% of patients in relapse group, 100% in failure group, and 83.33% in default group had drug resistances. Individual drug resistances are shown in Table-1.
Previous drug intake and subcategory were significant factors for drug resistance. It was also associated with smoking, poor education and economic factors but not with age or sex.
Conclusions: We observed significant drug resistance; highest for failure subcategory followed by default and relapse ones. Such high drug resistance requires DST at start of tubercular re-treatment in all patients.
- © 2011 ERS