PRIMARY DRUG RESISTANT TUBERCULOSIS - THE CONCERN!

Tuberculosis is an airborne infection caused by mycobacterium tuberculosis. About 480000 people worldwide developed MDR TB in 2015,additionally 1,00,00 developed resistance to rifampicin and needed MDR TB treatment.MDR TB burden largely falls on China, India & the Russian Federation - which together account for nearly half of the global cases. The proportion of DR-TB cases among new cases is 2-3% and that among previously treated cases is 12-17%. Aims and objectives: To find the incidence of primary MDR TB in a tertiary care center in Navi Mumbai.Materials & Methods: A retrospective study of Culture and sensitivity reports of 100 patients was conducted.All underwent smear examination for AFB by ZNCF method.AFB Gene Xpert (CB-NAAT) and AFB culture and drug sensitivity. Results- In our study we found primary MDR to be 10 % while an additional 1 % was resistant to INH alone. All patients were HIV negative. Conclusion-The high proportion of Primary MDR-TB found in our study compels us to suggest that modalities to diagnose primary drug resistance tuberculosis should be made available to all newly diagnosed TB patients, irrespective of HIV status.