J Clin Pathol Qual Control.  1998 Jun;20(1):231-237.

The Drug Resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Seongnam

• Kim EY
• Lee HW
• Lee JW
• Nahm CH
• Choi JW
• Pai SH
• Kim JJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND: According to the nationwide survey of tuberculosis from 1965 to 1995, the incidence and drug resistance rate of tuberculosis have been decreased in Korea, but the prevalence of multidrug resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is still a serious problem. The purpose of this study is to investigate the drug resistances rate and pattern of tuberculosis in Seongnam from 1993 to 1995 METHOD: Clinical isolates from the diagnosed patients with tuberculosis in Inha hospital were referred the drug susceptibility tests to the Korean National Tuberculosis Association. The number of isolates tested was 176.
RESULTS
The drug resistance rate was 34.1%, 26.7% of the patients had resistance to 2 or more drugs. 22.2% of the patients and resistance to 3 or more drugs. Isoniazid and rifampin were most common resistance agents. Resistance rate is higher (51.6%) in the patients with a history of prior treatment than without a history (17.3%), which shows the resistance rate is associated with the prior treatment history (P<0.001).
CONCLUSION
These data show that drug resistance rate of tuberculosis in Inha hospital is higher than nationwide survey without decreasing trend because our hospital is the 2nd referral center. Especially multidrug resistance is so high, which makes difficulty in effective treatment. Thus it is under the necessity of developing new rapid and reliable method for the identification and susceptibility test of M. tuberculosis.

MeSH Terms

Drug Resistance*
Drug Resistance, Multiple
Gyeonggi-do*
Humans
Incidence
Isoniazid
Korea
Mycobacterium tuberculosis*
Mycobacterium*
Prevalence
Referral and Consultation
Rifampin
Tuberculosis
Isoniazid
Rifampin