Mycobacterium Strain and Type of Resistance in Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients: A Missed Link in Iran’s National Tuberculosis Plan

Abstract

Background: The Incidence of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is constantly increasing.Objectives: This study aimed to clarify an important missed link in Iran's national TB plan. Patients and Methods: Through a 9-month period, all pulmonary TB patients diagnosed based on the national TB protocol, in Shiraz TB center, were selected and culture of TB colonies, drug susceptibility testing (DST), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of IS6110 gene, Isoniazid (INH) and Rifampin (RIF) tuberculosis resistance were done to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS. Conclusions:Findings of the present study show that 4 out of five new cases of pulmonary TB patients who were diagnosed based on the national TB protocol (clinical symptoms and acid fast bacilli staining) had IS6110 gene (MTB, Mycobactrium TB) and at least one-fifth of this group had A kind of Drug Resistant TB. Therefore, by using PCR ,as a complementary test, it could be possible to start 1st line anti-TB drugs for only MTB cases (up to 77% of the patients) and 2nd line drugs for MDR cases (15% of cases). This policy aims to achieve safety and better outcome for patients while saving human and financial resources in health care system.