Multidrug resistant tuberculosis in Punjab, Pakistan

ABSTRACT

Background: Tuberculosis [TB] can be traced back to the beginning of the mankind. It is a bacterial infectious communicable disease. Globally, TB is the second major cause of death from infectious diseases. MDR-TB is a type of tuberculosis that is resistance to at least two first line anti-tuberculosis drugs Isoniazid [INH] and Rifampicin [RMP] with or without resistance to other drugs. Multidrug resistant TB [MDR-TB] caught attention, when it emerged in the USA in 1990. Globally 425,000 new cases emerge annually, which is almost 5% of the annual global TB burden. Pakistan is included in 27 high burden MDR-TB countries, with almost 2% to 3.2% for newly diagnosed and 35% for previously treated patients. The overall aim of this study was to assess the burden and the distribution of resistance for four anti-tuberculosis medications