Primary drug resistance to antituberculous drugs in NWFP Pakistan.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the prevalence of Primary drug resistance to Antituberculous drugs in NWFP METHOD: A cross-sectional prevalence study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of drug resistance among new TB patients, using a non-probability convenience sampling methodology. Sample size was calculated according to the population and WHO's estimated incidence of smear positive tuberculosis in the province/country. Sputum samples were obtained from 122 newly diagnosed patients of pulmonary tuberculosis from centres in Peshawar and Abbotabad in NWFP.


RESULTS
Sensitivities were performed by proportion method which showed the following resistance values in 118 eligible patients: 15 (12.7%) samples showed primary resistance to one or more drugs. 8 (6.4%) isolates were resistant to a single drug, 2 (1.6%) were resistant to 2 drugs, 4 (3.2%) to 3 drugs, 1 (0.8%) to 4 drugs while none to all 5 first line agents. Resistance to Streptomycin (10 microg/ml) was seen in 7 (5.9%), Isoniazid (1 microg/ml) in 10 (8.4%), Rifampicin (5 microg/ml) in 3 (2.5%), Ethambutol (10 microg/ml) in 2 (1.6%) and Pyrazinamide in 6 (5.0%) samples. Primary Multidrug resistance was 2.5%.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that prevalence of MDR amongst untreated patients in NWFP is 2.5%, which is a cause of concern and should be addressed through effective TB control programmes with DOTS strategy.
Javaid
Arshad
A
Department of Pulmonology, PGMI, Lady Reading Hospital Peshawar.
Ghafoor
Abdul
A
Rab
Abdul
A
Basit
Anila
A
Ullah
Zia
Z
Ali
Shaukat
S
Zafar
Afia
A
Hasan
Rumina
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D024901:Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis; D010154:Pakistan; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013183:Sputum / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000188:drug therapy*
D000995:Antitubercular Agents