Arshad Javaid, Mazhar Ali Khan, Mukhtiar Zaman Afridi, Abdur Rab Khan, Abdul Ghafoor.
Prevalence and pattern of Multidrug resistant tuberculosis among retreatment (Category II) patients of pulmonary tuberculosis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.
Pak J Chest Med Jan ;26(3):121-7.

Background: Resistance to the first-line drugs is a major issue in tuberculosis (TB) control. Globally 20% of previously treated TB cases have been reported to have multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Pakistan is among the top high TB burden countries with an annual incidence of 270 per 100,000 and estimated to have more than 13000 MDR-TB cases. In the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) the annual incidence of TB is around 55,000 out of which around 5% are retreatment cases. So a survey was needed to determine prevalence of MDR-TB in KPK. Objectives: Objective of the present study is to find out the prevalence of MDR-TB among previously treated (Category II) pulmonary tuberculosis patients in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Methodology: A total of 131 cultures positive retreatment patients were included in this cross sectional study. Drug susceptibility testing with Isoniazid, Rifampicin, Streptomycin, Ethambutol and Pyrazinamide were performed with standard technique. Results: Of the 131 patients, 54 (41.2%) showed resistance to one or more drugs. Resistance with isoniazid and rifampicin [MRD-TB] was seen in 20 patients (15.3%). Resistance to streptomycin was highest (31.3%), followed by isoniazid (26.0%). Conclusion: The result of this study showed prevalence of drug resistance of 41.2% and MDR-TB of 15.3% with the first line ATT among retreatment cases of pulmonary tuberculosis.

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