Objective: This study was planned to establish resistance profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in the West part of Turkey.
Methods: The data were collected by searching records of tuberculosis (TB) division of microbiology laboratory in 1999 and 2001, retrospectively.
Results: Susceptibilities of the all first-line anti-TB drugs ratio were 76% in 1999 and 83.5% in 2001. Drug resistance of against isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RMP), ethambutol (EMB) and streptomycin (SM) were detected 11.9, 10.2, 11.92, 10.88% and 9.9, 9.27, 6.36, 8.56% for 1999 and 2001, respectively. Multidrug resistance (MDR)-TB rate was found on the high level (6.6 and 5.8%).
Conclusions: It was thought that resistance rates of M. tuberculosis strains should be followed regularly and reasons for the high rates should be investigated. It was concluded that development of the national TB policy was the main issue for solving the present problems dealing with management of TB.
Summary: M. tuberculosis is one of the important emerging pathogens. Multidrug and polidrug strains have been increasing around the world. This study was planned to define drug resistance patterns for monitoring drug-resistant TB in Western Turkey. It is suggested that a close collaboration between academic researchers and TB system workers would be organized for further studies.