Emerging Infectious Diseases (Mar 2011)

Increasing Drug Resistance in Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, South Africa

  • N. Sarita Shah,
  • Jessica Richardson,
  • Prashini Moodley,
  • Salona Moodley,
  • Palav Babaria,
  • Melissa Ramtahal,
  • Scott K. Heysell,
  • Xuan Li,
  • Anthony P. Moll,
  • Gerald Friedland,
  • A. Willem Sturm,
  • Neel R. Gandhi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3201/eid1703.101363
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 17, no. 3
pp. 510 – 513

Abstract

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We expanded second-line tuberculosis (TB) drug susceptibility testing for extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from South Africa. Of 19 patients with extensively drug-resistant TB identified during February 2008–April 2009, 13 (68%) had isolates resistant to all 8 drugs tested. This resistance leaves no effective treatment with available drugs in South Africa.

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