PLoS ONE (Jan 2013)

From multidrug- to extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis: upward trends as seen from a 15-year nationwide study.

  • Karolien Stoffels,
  • Caroline Allix-Béguec,
  • Guido Groenen,
  • Maryse Wanlin,
  • Dirk Berkvens,
  • Vanessa Mathys,
  • Philip Supply,
  • Maryse Fauville-Dufaux

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0063128
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 5
p. e63128

Abstract

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BackgroundEmergence of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) represents an enormous challenge to Public Health globally.MethodsProgression towards XDR-TB was investigated in Belgium, a country with a typically low TB incidence, by analyzing the magnitude, characteristics, and treatment success of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) through a population-based study from 1994 to 2008.ResultsAmong the 174 MDR-TB patients, 81% were foreign-born, 48% of these being asylum seekers. Although the number of MDR-TB patients remained stable through the study period at around 15 new cases annually, frequencies of resistance of the patients' first MDR-TB isolate to second-line drugs increased, as well as the total number of antibiotics it was resistant to (pConclusionsIncreasing severity in drug resistance patterns leading to more XDR- and "panresistant" TB cases in a country with a low TB incidence like Belgium represents a strong alert on worsening situations in other world regions and requires intense public health measures.