Abstract :
Introduction: The emergence of Multi-Drug Resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has become a big issue in
tuberculosis (TB) control programs in recent times. It is seen more frequently in patients already treated
for TB, but has been now diagnosed in new TB patients as a primary infection. Present study was carried
out to find out the prevalence of MDR-TB in new and previously treated pulmonary TB patients attending
a tertiary care rural hospital.
Material and Methods: The study included a total of 1154 suspected MDR-TB patients out of which 1052
were new patients while 102 had received anti-TB drugs in past. Sputum samples of these patients were
tested using GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and Rifampicin
resistance.
Results: MDR-TB was detected in 5.55% of overall patients. In case of new TB suspects, MDR-TB was
detected in 4.37%, while 17.65% of patients with past history of anti-TB treatment had MDR-TB.
Conclusion: Improper management of drug sensitive TB has led to emergence of MDR-TB. Previous drug
treatment seems to be the most important risk factor for acquiring resistance. It is important to strongly
suspect and correctly diagnose MDR-TB at an early stage in all suspected patients of tuberculosis to control
the spread of this disease and for improving the management of all TB cases.
Keyword :
Multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDRTB), GeneXpert assay, Rifampicin resistance, M tuberculosis.