High prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among patients with rifampicin resistance using GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin in Ghana

ABSTRACT

Objective/Background: drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis [TB] represent a major threat to global TB control. In low- and middle-income countries, resource constraints make it difficult to identify and monitor cases of resistance using drug susceptibility testing and culture. Molecular assays such as the GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampicin may prove to be a cost-effective solution to this problem in these settings. The objective of this study is to evaluate the use of GeneXpert in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB since it was introduced into two tertiary hospitals in Ghana in 2013