Multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis: the experience of an urban tertiary care hospital in South India using automated BACTEC 460 TB.

The emergence of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) strains has been a major obstacle in the tuberculosis (TB) control programme. In the present study we looked into the prevalence of MDR-TB in an urban tertiary care hospital in South India over four years (2007-2010). During this period, 641 clinical specimens (317 respiratory specimens and 324 non-respiratory specimens) were received for mycobacteriological culture and drug susceptibility testing for first-line drugs, using the BACTEC 460 TB system. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) was isolated in 34.8% (n = 223) specimens. Of the total 223 MTB isolates 83 (37.2%) were MDR. Forty-two percent of the pulmonary MTB isolates (n = 72) and 20.4% of the extra-pulmonary isolates (n = 10) were MDR. Although we observed a high percentage of drug resistance, the prevalence of MDR was not observed to vary significantly within the four years which suggested good management.