Resistance for Anti-Tuberculosis Drugs in Central Black Sea Region of Turkey

One of the primary aims in tuberculosis (TB) management is to detect new cases as early as possible, and instigate the most appropriate therapy, for which it is important to know the characteristics of TB drug resistance in society. The aim of our study was to determine the resistance status of tuberculosis in the Samsun region of Turkey. To achieve that, the medical records of 1,029 pulmonary tuberculosis patients admitted to Samsun Chest Diseases and Chest Surgery Hospital between 2004 and 2006 were analyzed for drug resistance characteristics. In order to define the problem, isolates were tested on Lowenstein-Jensen medium. For drug susceptibility testing, isoniazid (1), streptomycin (S), ethambutol (E), rifampicin (R) and the radiometric Bactec 460 TB system were used. Eighty-six percent (86%) of the cases (623/721) were new patients, and 13.5% (98/721) were previously treated cases. One hundred and thirty-four ( 134) of the 721 patients (18.6%) had resistance to one or more drugs. Resistance to any drug was determined in 16.9% (105/623) cases of new patients. 1 resistance was 13.2%, any R resistance was 2.9%, and multi-drug resistance (MDR) was 1.9%. In previously treated cases, resistance to any drug was 29.6%, any I resistance was 26.5%, any R resistance was 15.3%, and MDR was 13.3%. It was concluded that resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs is an important problem in Samsun.