Drug-resistant tuberculosis in Korea, 1994.

SETTING

Sample survey based on pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients registered in 264 health centres in Korea, compared with data obtained from nationwide TB prevalence surveys conducted since 1965.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the level of antituberculosis drug resistance (DR) and to assess its impact on treatment outcome and its relationship with cure rates in the National TB Programme (NTP).

DESIGN

Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from 2,486 new patients and 189 previously treated patients were subjected to susceptibility testing against 10 antituberculosis drugs. Treatment outcome was assessed. The DR levels were compared with those observed in the national TB prevalence surveys, and the trend was correlated with the cure rate of patients treated in the NTP.

RESULTS

Resistance to any drug was 11.3% in new cases and 54.0% in previously treated cases. Initial resistance to isoniazid (INH) or rifampicin (RMP) was 7.7% or 2.2%, and to INH and RMP (+/- other drugs) 1.6%. Compared with previous data, initial drug resistance (IDR) has decreased significantly and is inversely related to improvement of cure rates in the NTP. The treatment outcome of patients with single drug resistance was satisfactory.

CONCLUSION

Drug-resistant TB has decreased remarkably during the last decades in Korea as a result of improved efficiency in the treatment programme of the NTP.