ABSTRACT
Background: Tuberculosis is the most common cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide after HIV/AIDS. Drug resistant tuberculosis continues to be a public health crisis. India stands, one among 27 “high burden” MDR countries and has over 2 million new TB cases every year and TB kill’s nearly 1000 people every day. The WHO 2018 Global Tuberculosis Report estimated that, worldwide, approximately 3.5 percent of all new TB cases and 18 percent of previously treated cases are caused by MDR or rifampicin-mono resistant strains.Methods: Presumptive drug resistance TB cases were subjected for CBNAAT or LPA to detect resistance patterns. About 231 cases of MDR/RR TB cases after pre-treatment evaluation started on CAT- IV regimen and both interim and final outcomes were analyzed.Results: Out of 231cases 172(74.4%) were males and 59(25.6%) were females with age between 13-75yrs. Total of 194 cases culture conversion occurred out of which 28 cases the cultures were reverted back to positives. Final Outcomes were, cured in 84 (36.3%) cases, treatment completed in 42 (18.18%) cases, defaulters in 31 (13.4%) cases, turned to be XDR in 10 (4.32%) cases, treatment failure in 10 (4.32%) cases, 50 (21.6%) cases died, 3(1.29%) cases were transferred out.Conclusions: Approximately 2/3rd of MDR/RR TB cases are retreatment sputum positive cases. Successful outcome observed in 54.54% of cases only. High rates of deaths and defaulters alarm the necessity of more effective implementation and surveillance of the programme.
ABSTRACT
Background & objectives Programmatic management of MDR-TB using a standardized treatment regimen (STR) is being implemented under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) in India. This study was undertaken to analyse the outcomes of MDR-TB patients treated at the Tuberculosis Research Centre, Chennai, with the RNTCP recommended 24 months STR, under programmatic conditions. Methods Patients failed to the category II re-treatment regimen and confirmed to have MDR-TB, were treated with the RNTCP's STR in a prospective field trial on a predominantly ambulatory basis. Thirty eight patients were enrolled to the trial from June 2006 to September 2007. Results Time to culture conversion was two months or less for 82 per cent of patients. Culture conversion rates at 3 and 6 months were 84 and 87 per cent respectively. At the end of treatment, 25 (66%) were cured, 5 defaulted, 3 died and 5 failed. At 24 months, 30 (79%) patients, including 5 defaulters, remained culture negative for more than 18 months. Twenty two (58%) patients reported adverse drug reactions (ADRs) which required dose reduction or termination of the offending drug. No patient had XDR-TB initially, but 2 failure cases emerged as XDR-TB during treatment. Interpretation & conclusions Outcomes of this small group of MDR-TB patients treated with the RNTCP's STR is encouraging in this setting. Close attention needs to be paid to ensure adherence, and to the timely recognition and treatment of ADRs.