Journal of Advances in Microbiology

Aims and Objective: Many diseases have a high prevalence in India, accounting for one-fourth of the Tuberculosis (TB) cases in the world. In our study, we aimed to find the prevalence of Pre XDR-TB and XDR-TB amongst newly diagnosed cases of pulmonary MDR-TB who had never been previously treated with second-line drugs. A prospective study was conducted in Culture and Drug susceptibility testing laboratory, Jamnagar and its associated Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB) centre.

Materials and Methods: Baseline second-line liquid culture DST has been recently integrated with the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) diagnostic algorithm. We included 500 patients who were diagnosed in cases of pulmonary MDR-TB never exposed to second-line TB-Drugs. Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube method conducted in an RNTCP accredited Culture and Drug susceptibility testing laboratory, Jamnagar, as part of the evaluation in the public healthcare system from where patients were referred for diagnosis to us.

Results: 585 MDR suspected sputum samples were received, 466 sputum samples were showing culture positive for acid-fast bacilli which were screened against second-line drug susceptibility testing by using of BACTEC MGIT 960 (MGIT 960) instrument. About 293 Mycobacterium samples were MDR-TB, 151 were Pre- XDR TB and 22 were XDR-TB.

Conclusion: The prevalence of Pre XDR-TB and XDR-TB among MDR-TB patients were 32.4% and 4.7% respectively. The high prevalence of Pre XDR-TB (FQ) is alarming and of concern in the management of MDR-TB control in Jamnagar area.