Author(s)

Tamanna Tasnim^1*, Shirin Tarafder¹, Fatema Mohammad Alam¹, Humayun Sattar¹, S. M. Mostofa Kamal²

¹Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU), Dhaka, Bangladesh.
²National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL), National Institute of Diseases of the Chest and Hospital (NIDCH), Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Background & Objectives: Emergence of drug resistant Tuberculosis (TB) is a major obstacle in the TB control programme of Bangladesh. This study was carried out to detect pre-extensively drug resistant TB (pre-XDR-TB) cases among the multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients in Bangladesh, as the early detection of pre-XDR-TB can guide clinicians in the appropriate modification of MDR-TB treatment regimen with effective drugs to prevent treatment failure. Methodology: A total of 68 MDR-TB cases were enrolled in this study. Multiplex Real-time PCR was done to detect pre-XDR-TB cases directly from sputum samples of MDR-TB patients. Results: Out of 68 MDR-TB cases 11 (16.18%) cases were detected as pre-XDR-TB. The resistant profile of the 11 pre-XDR-TB revealed 9 (81.82%) cases of fluoroquinolone (FLQ) resistant pre-XDR-TB and 2 (18.18%) cases of injectable second line (ISL) agent resistant pre-XDR-TB. Out of 11 pre-XDR-TB cases 7 (63.64%) cases had history of taking treatment for MDR-TB regularly, 1 (9.09%) case had history of taking treatment for MDR-TB irregularly and 3 (27.27%) cases had no history of taking treatment for MDR-TB. Conclusion: This study encountered a high rate of pre-XDR-TB cases along with a significant number of primarily resistant bacilli which is of concern in the management of MDR-TB. It is evident that Bangladesh is in urgent need to device strategies for rapid and early detection of pre-XDR-TB in order to prevent treatment failure of MDR-TB cases and also to halt the progression of MDR-TB cases to extensively drug resistant TB (XDR-TB), which is not only difficult but also very expensive to treat.

Pre-XDR-TB, MDR-TB, Bangladesh

Tasnim, T. , Tarafder, S. , Alam, F. , Sattar, H. and Mostofa Kamal, S. (2018) Pre-Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (Pre-XDR-TB) among Pulmonary Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) Patients in Bangladesh. Journal of Tuberculosis Research, 6, 199-206. doi: 10.4236/jtr.2018.63018.