Abstract
Purpose
Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is an emerging threat to human beings. However, there is little data on the current status of MDR-TB in Korea. This study investigated the current status of MDR-TB in Korea using a survey of all the data from drug susceptibility tests (DST) performed across the country over the last three years.
Method
The DST results between Jan. 2000 and Dec. 2002 from 7 laboratories, which were in charge of all antituberculous DSTs across the country as of March 2002, were collected and analyzed to determine the actual number of drug-resistant or MDR-TB patients, annual trend, degree and pattern of resistance against anti-TB drugs, etc.
Results
Six laboratories used the absolute concentration method for DST and one used the proportional method. 59, 940 tests had been performed over the 3 year study period. The number of DST performed annually was 18,071, 19,950, and 21,919 in 2000-2002, respectively. The number of resistant tuberculosis patients (resistant against at least one anti-TB drug) had increased by 16.9% from 6,338 in 2000 to 7,409 in 2002. The rate of resistant tuberculosis among all DST results was 35.1% in 2000, 34.5% in 2001, and 33.8% in 2002. The number of MDR-TB patients (resistant against at least both isoniazid and rifampin) showed an increasing trend (14.5%) from 3,708 in 2000 to 4,245 in 2002.
Figures and Tables
Figure 1
The number of DST performed in 7 laboratories.
*Tuberculosis resistant to at least one drug
†Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis
![trd-60-404-g001](/upload/SynapseData/ArticleImage/0003trd/trd-60-404-g001.jpg)
Table 1
The number of DST performed in 7 laboratories and drug resistant tuberculosis rate
![trd-60-404-i001](/upload/SynapseData/ArticleImage/0003trd/trd-60-404-i001.jpg)
*Resistant TB(resistant to at least one drug), †MDR-TB(resistant to at least both of INH and RFP)
KIT: Korea Institute of Tuberculosis, SCL: Seoul Clinical Laboratories, GCRL: Green Cross Reference Laboratory, Seobuk: Seobuk Hospital, NeoDIN: NeoDIN Medical Institute, Masan: National Masan Hospital, Mokpo: National Mokpo Hospital
Table 7
The distribution of MDR-TB patients according to their sex (National Masan and Mokpo Hospital)
![trd-60-404-i007](/upload/SynapseData/ArticleImage/0003trd/trd-60-404-i007.jpg)
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