Abstract
Frequency of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Pakistan increased from 1.5% in 2006 to 4.5% in 2009 (p<0.01). To understand the epidemiology, we genotyped selected strains by using spoligotyping, mycobacterial interspersed repetitive units–variable number of tandem repeats, and IS6110 restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis.
Highlights
Drug-resistant TB (XDR TB) was initially defined as an MDR isolate that was resistant to at least 3 of the 6 main classes of secondline drugs: aminoglycosides, polypeptides, fluoroquinolones, thioamides, cycloserine, and para-aminosalicylic acid [4]
Of the 215 MDR isolates, 92 (42.8%), 35 (16.3%), 34 (15.8%), and 56 (26.0%) were resistant to fluoroquinolone, kanamycin, ethionamide, and paraaminosalicylate, respectively
A previous study by Yu et al [8] showed that fluoroquinolone-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates were rare among patients not previously exposed to fluoroquinolones; the increased rate of resistance to fluoroquinolones was observed among patients with MDR TB because of inadequate treatment regimens or poor compliance [8,9]
Summary
Drug-resistant TB (XDR TB) was initially defined as an MDR isolate that was resistant to at least 3 of the 6 main classes of secondline drugs: aminoglycosides, polypeptides, fluoroquinolones, thioamides, cycloserine, and para-aminosalicylic acid [4]. Of the 215 MDR isolates, 92 (42.8%), 35 (16.3%), 34 (15.8%), and 56 (26.0%) were resistant to fluoroquinolone, kanamycin, ethionamide, and paraaminosalicylate, respectively. With their broad spectrum antimicrobial activity, fluoroquinolones are widely used for the treatment of bacterial respiratory infections in Taiwan.
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