[The role of bacteriology in the treatment of tuberculosis; the Hungarian program]

A positive result of the bacteriological examination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is signal to start treatment. The response to antituberculosis chemotherapy in patients with positive bacteriology is best evaluated by repeated examinations. The recommendation of the Hungarian National Tuberculosis Programme for the initial intensive phase of chemotherapy of previously untreated patients is based on the frequency of primoresistance determined by the National Reference Laboratory. The treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis can be supported by the result of previous susceptibility test and/or by the outcome of multicenter validated Bactec 460 susceptibility test of second-line antimicrobial drugs. The presence of a mutation within a gen is predictive of rifampicin resistance of M. tuberculosis. The results are available within 48 h. 92.4% of rifampicin resistant and nearly 100% of pyrazinamid resistant isolates in the Reference Laboratory were resistant to isoniazid. On the other hand streptomycin resistant strains were susceptible to amikacin in a rate of 38:1. Some rifampicin resistant strains are susceptible to rifabutin. The Reference Laboratory observed among the first that some ofloxacin resistant strains are susceptible to ciprofloxacin. It was the first which demonstrated effectivity of amikacin in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis. It was drawn attention to the importance of the PAS infusion therapy of multidrug resistant tuberculosis cases by observing bacteriological conversion.