ABSTRACT
SETTING: Joint World Health Organization (WHO) projects in Vladimir and Orel regions, Russia. OBJECTIVE: To study the prevalence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB). METHODS: Drug susceptibility testing of second-line drugs (ofloxacin, kanamycin, capreomycin, ethionamide, cycloserine and para-aminosalicylic acid) was performed on isolates from multidrug-resistant TB cases from 1 January to 31 December 2006. RESULTS: In Orel, 16 (21.3%) of 75 tested isolates were XDR-TB; in Vladimir, 9 (4.9%) of 182 isolates were XDR-TB. Bilateral lung involvement was significantly associated with XDR-TB (prevalence ratio = 2.61, 95%CI 1.01-6.72). CONCLUSION: XDR-TB has emerged in Russia. It is crucial to prevent, diagnose and treat TB and MDR-TB more effectively.
