Drug susceptibility pattern of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates against conventional anti-tuberculosis drugs in Dhaka, Bangladesh

To investigate the drug susceptibility pattern of isolated Mycobacterium tuberculosis [M. tuberculosis] against conventional anti-tuberculosis drugs in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Sputum samples from 101 suspected new and previously treated patients were collected and M. tuberculosis was identified by microscopic observation and Ziehl-Neelsen staining. Drug susceptibility was performed against 4 anti-tuberculosis drugs, and the obtained data was analyzed. This study was performed in the Bangladesh Institute of Research and Rehabilitation in Diabetes, Endocrine and Metabolic Disorders Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh between October 2008 and November 2009. Among 101 suspected, 59 [58.4%] cases were identified as M. tuberculosis and the drug susceptibility pattern of 50 positives isolates was studied against 4 anti-tuberculosis drugs. Out of these 50 isolates of M. tuberculosis, 25 [50%] were sensitive to all drugs, and 25 [50%] were resistant to one or more drugs. Among 50 positive patients, 37 [74%] were new cases, and 13 [26%] were previously treated cases. Among 37 new cases, 14 [37.8%] cases were resistant to one or more drugs, whereas 11 out of 13 [84.6%] treated cases were resistant to one or more drugs. Among the 50 positive isolates, 26% demonstrated resistance to isoniazid, 12% to rifampicin, 22% to streptomycin, 20% to ethambutol, and 8% to multi drug resistance. The emergence of drug resistant M. tuberculosis isolates in Dhaka is alarming, which is currently 5-fold higher than last decade. Strict measures should be taken to control and prevent drug-resistant tuberculosis

Rt-PCR method for diagnosis and follow-up of hematological malignancies: first approach in Bangladesh.

Nested reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rt-PCR) was performed on 58 leukemia patients at BIRDEM Laboratory, as a pioneering work in Bangladesh. Thirty of themwere examined for the presence of BCR-ABL being clinically and morphologically diagnosed as chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and 28 for PML-RARalpha fusion transcripts being clinically and morphologically diagnosed as acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL/ AML M3). The cases were selected for targeted therapy with imatinib mesylate and all-Trans retinoic acid (ATRA) to treat CML and APL respectively. Samples were received either before commencement or during therapy. In the positive cases, amplified DNA products were visible after gel electrophoresis and were reported accordingly. In case of BCR-ABL, positive results were found for five out of six (83.33%) untreated cases and 11 out of 24 (45.83%) treated cases. Positive results for PML-RARalpha were found for 12 out of 14 (85.70%) untreated cases and 11 out of 16 (68.75%) treated cases. A strong positive correlation was found between duration of treatment and negativity of PCR results in both the cases. In present times, the detection of minimal residual disease in patients undergoing treatment for hematological malignancies has become an important goal, not only to monitor the effectiveness of therapy but also to detect an impending relapse. This is the first time in Bangladesh that rt-PCR method is being employed to detect or monitor the presence of abnormal fusion genes in hematological malignancies.