Patterns of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis from tuberculosis patients in Ibadan Nigeria

The success of the global tuberculosis (TB) control program has been threatened with drug resistant strains emergence; especially the Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Despite that Nigeria is one of the countries with high tuberculosis burden, little is known on the magnitude of MDR-TB in the country. This study was to determine drug resistant patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients that attended Directly Observed Treatment Short-course (DOTS) centres in Ibadan, Nigeria. Sputum samples collected from confirmed TB patients were processed using the N-acetyl L-cysteine-sodium hydroxide decontamination method. Direct drug susceptibility test was carried out against rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambuthol and streptomycin. Out of the 319 samples collected, 149 (46.7%) were culture positive and susceptibility test was completed for 101 (67.8%) isolates, out of which any resistance and mono-resistance to rifampicin was 23.8% and 8.9% respectively. In all 11.9% MDR-TB was observed comprising 30.8% (acquired), and 8.3% (primary) while, 3.96% showed resistance to all tested drugs. The patterns of MDR-TB in this study indicates that active case findings as well as expansion of drug susceptibility testing is required to effectively control TB, drug resistant strains and to forestall the transmission and spread of the drug-resistant TB in the society.