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Updated: Apr 28, 2026

A Tuberculosis Molecular Bacterial Load Assay TB-MBLA
Published on: April 30, 2020
Strong decrease in streptomycin-resistance and absence of XDR 12 years after the Reorganization of the National
Larissa Kamgue Sidze1, Emmanuel Mouafo Tekwu1, Christopher Kuaban2
1Laboratory for Tuberculosis Research (LTR), Biotechnology Center (BTC), University of Yaoundé I, Yaoundé, Cameroon; Institute of Tropical Medicine, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany; Central African Network for Tuberculosis, AIDS/HIV and Malaria (CANTAM), Brazzaville, Congo.
Background:
In the 1990s, resistance rates of 15% for streptomycin-resistance and 0.6% for multidrug-resistance (MDR) were reported from the Central Region of Cameroon. This work assesses drug resistant tuberculosis in this region 12 years after reorganization of the National Tuberculosis Control Program (NTCP).
Methods:
This cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2010 to March 2011 in Jamot Hospital in Yaoundé, Cameroon. Only patients with smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis were included. Sputa were cultured and subsequently underwent drug susceptibility testing (DST). All consenting individuals were tested for their HIV status.
Results:
A total of 665 smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients were enrolled. The HIV prevalence was 28.5% (95%CI [25.2-32.1]). Of the 582 sputa that grew Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex species, DST results were obtained for 576. The overall resistance rate was 10.9% (63/576). The overall resistance rates for single drug resistance were: isoniazid-resistance 4.7% (27/576), streptomycin-resistance 3.3% (19/576), rifampicin-resistance 0.2% (1/576), kanamycin-resistance 0.2% (1/576) and ofloxacin-resistance 0.2% (1/576). The MDR rate was 1.1% (6/576) and no extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR) was detected.
Conclusions:
The data show that reorganization of the NTCP resulted in a strong decrease in streptomycin-resistance and suggest that it prevented the emergence of XDR in the Central Region of Cameroon.
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