[Primary resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to anti-tuberculosis drugs in Kinshasa, (DRC)]

In a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in Kinshasa between July 2003 and January 2004, we determined the prevalence of the primary resistance of M. tuberculosis to first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. The antibiogram was performed with the proportion method on 301 isolats from patients who all had a first episode of pulmonary tuberculosis with positive microscopy (TPM+) and who had not received any anti-tuberculosis treatment before. The primary resistance rate reached 43.5%; it reached 31.6% in 1990. The multi-drug-resistance rate (MDR-TB) notified as resistant to both rifamicine and isoniazide rose to 5.3%. This rate of primary resistance is among the highest in Africa. The emergence of the resistant strains and specially the multi-drug-resistant strains (MDR-TB) in Kinshasa requires a regular assessment of these phenomena which threaten seriously the implementation of the national tuberculosis control programme.