Evaluation of the Resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to Rifampicin at the Regional Hospital Center of Maradi, Niger

Background: According to the World Health Organization (WHO) data, 600,000 cases of rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (TB) have been reported worldwide, including 490,000 cases of multidrug-resistant TB. Thus, through the present study, we proposed to evaluate the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to rifampicin in the regional hospital of Maradi. Methods: Our study involved 887 sputum samples that were GeneXpert tested from January 2016 to December 2020. These data were collected from the laboratory records of the Maradi Regional Hospital and analyzed with SPSS and Excel 2013 software. Results: In total, more than half of the patients were male, i.e., a sex ratio of 3.03. The average age was 41 years. The rate of detection of M. tuberculosis by GeneXpert was 42% and the frequency of resistance to rifampicin was 20%. However, treatment failure and relapse were associated with this monoresistance in 53.95% and 30.26% of cases, respectively. Conclusion: The present study shows a fairly high prevalence of rifampicin resistance in the Maradi region, corresponding to twice the WHO threshold. The vast majority of these cases presented either a therapeutic failure or a relapse. Urgent and effective actions must be taken to significantly reduce the rates of treatment failure and relapse to decrease the rate of monoresistance and thus avoid the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains.