Emerging Infectious Diseases (Mar 2007)

Worldwide Emergence of Extensively Drug-resistant Tuberculosis

  • N. Sarita Shah,
  • Abigail Wright,
  • Gill-Han Bai,
  • Lucia Barrera,
  • Fadila Boulahbal,
  • Nuria Martín-Casabona,
  • Francis Drobniewski,
  • Chris Gilpin,
  • Marta Havelková,
  • Rosario Lepe,
  • Richard Lumb,
  • Beverly Metchock,
  • Françoise Portaels,
  • Maria Filomena Rodrigues,
  • Sabine Rüsch-Gerdes,
  • Armand Van Deun,
  • Veronique Vincent,
  • Kayla F. Laserson,
  • Charles Wells,
  • J. Peter Cegielski

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1303.061400
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 3
pp. 380 – 387

Abstract

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Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains that are resistant to an increasing number of second-line drugs used to treat multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) are becoming a threat to public health worldwide. We surveyed the Network of Supranational Reference Laboratories for M. tuberculosis isolates that were resistant to second-line anti-TB drugs during 2000–2004. We defined extensively drug-resistant TB (XDR-TB) as MDR-TB with further resistance to ≥3 of the 6 classes of second-line drugs. Of 23 eligible laboratories, 14 (61%) contributed data on 17,690 isolates, which reflected drug susceptibility results from 48 countries. Of 3,520 (19.9%) MDR-TB isolates, 347 (9.9%) met criteria for XDR-TB. Further investigation of population-based trends and expanded efforts to prevent drug resistance and effectively treat patients with MDR-TB are crucial for protection of public health and control of TB.

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