[WHO sample survey on drug resistant tuberculosis in Zhejiang, China]

To obtain the data on initial and acquired drug resistance, and to evaluate the efficacy of ongoing tuberculosis (TB) control strategies.

According to the Guidelines for Surveillance of Drug Resistance in Tuberculosis of WHO/IUATLD, randomly selected 30 counties with population proportionate cluster sampling method. Proportion method was used for drug sensitivity test, laboratory quality control was done by Korean super-country reference laboratory.

1,013 TB patients were enrolled in 30 counties, 954 were culture positive, and one with non-tuberculous mycobacteria. The culture positive rate was 94.6%, the contaminated rate was 3.2%. Drug susceptibility testing against streptomycin (SM), isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RFP) and ethambutol (EMB) were performed in 953 cases, the total drug resistant rate was 21.5%, the initial drug resistant rate was 14.8%, the initial multi-drug resistance was 4.4%, the acquired drug and multi-drug resistant rates were 59.0% and 34.7%, respectively.

The initial drug resistant rates were decreasing in comparison to 1990 (24.0%), suggesting good effect of DOTS policy implemented in Zhejiang province. However, multi-drug resistant rate was higher in this province than some other countries, indicating more attention should be paid to this situation.