Trends in childhood drug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa: a window into the wider epidemic?

Int J Tuberc Lung Dis. 2014 Jul;18(7):770-3. doi: 10.5588/ijtld.13.0069.

Abstract

Childhood tuberculosis (TB) is a marker of TB transmission within a community. We present the fourth consecutive survey of children with culture-confirmed TB at a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, from 2009 to 2011. In comparison to the previous survey, the rate of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) has stabilised and the human immunodeficiency virus infection rate has declined. We also report on the first systematic surveillance of resistance to second-line drugs. Two concerns following from this are the high rate (22%) of ofloxacin resistance in MDR-TB isolates, and the discordance between isolates with an inhA promoter region mutation, usually implying ethionamide (ETH) resistance, and phenotypic ETH results in these isolates showing ETH susceptibility.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Antitubercular Agents / pharmacology*
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Drug Resistance, Multiple, Bacterial
  • Ethionamide / pharmacology
  • Female
  • HIV Infections / epidemiology*
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / drug effects
  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis / isolation & purification
  • Ofloxacin / pharmacology
  • Oxidoreductases
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • South Africa / epidemiology
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / drug therapy
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / epidemiology*
  • Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / microbiology

Substances

  • Antitubercular Agents
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Ofloxacin
  • Oxidoreductases
  • InhA protein, Mycobacterium
  • Ethionamide