Review of the Current Status of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

After years of decline tuberculosis has re-emerged as a serious public health problem worldwide. In 1993 the World Health Organization (WHO) declared tuberculosis to be a global emergency and according to a recent WHO report there were 7.96 million new cases in 1997 with 2 million deaths. Factors contributing to the resurgence of tuberculosis include the HIV epidemic immigration of persons from countries with high incidence rates and political turmoil in some developing countries which hinder efforts to control the disease. The spread of the disease poses a public health concern especially with increased drug resistance among M. tuberculosis strains which have acquired varying degrees of resistance to firstline anti-tuberculous drugs. The underlying causes of single drug-resistant M. tuberculosis (SDR-TB) and/or multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis (MDR-TB) have been suggested to be the result of incorrect treatment poor compliance shortage of anti-tuberculous drugs due to financial constraints in some developing countries and deficient or deteriorating TB control programs resulting in inadequate administration of effective chemotherapy. Previous reports indicate that single-drug resistance and multi-drug resistance to M. tuberculosis are on the increase in both developed and developing countries. The prevalence of SDR-TB or MDR-TB in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is largely unknown except for a few studies confined to large centers. The objective of this article is to review published materials from different regions of the Kingdom on the prevalence of SDR-TB and MDR-TB and to draw a conclusion of the actual status of drug-resistant tuberculosis in Saudi Arabia with a discussion of the findings. (excerpt)