Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in Nigeria: A Case of Ondo State Patients

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health problem, with developing countries bearing the highest burden. In the first and second quarters of 2021 in Ondo State 9,207 TB cases were reported, out of this figure 1106 cases were positive and 27 patients were drug resistant. The result of the visitation of patients to TB clinics in Ondo State was found successful in achieving its objectives; still there is concern of cases and defaulters. The aim of this study is to evaluate the directly observed treatment outcomes, patient deaths, treatment failures, and follow-up status of tuberculosis (TB) patients. This study was conducted on 27 TB patients put on treatment during the first and second quarters of 2021 Ondo State. The ages of the patients range between 10 and 59 years old. The majority of the patients were males, 59.25% (16) while female were 40.75% (11). 59.26% (16) has the highest height (cm), 13 (48.15%) has the highest weight of between 50-59kg. Out of total 27 TB cases obtained, 55.6% were cured, 22.2% follow-up (continued treatment), 18.5% died, and 3.7% failed. Defaulters were high in present study. The majority of patients left the treatment due to feeling well. The study present patterns of DR-TB in Ondo State, Nigeria. Ondo State has a high prevalence of TB, including resistant TB and there is the need to increase monitoring of individuals resident in this region. Efforts should be geared to providing more free services to the patients and more should be done to avoid patients from being stigmatized.