Evaluating Tuberculosis and Drug Resistance in Serbia: A Ten-Year Experience from a Tertiary Center

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of mortality worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. The rise of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) poses significant challenges to global health. This study reviews the experience of the largest pulmonology center in Serbia, a country with low MDR-TB incidence, focusing on TB prevalence, resistance detection, and treatment strategies between 2012 and 2021.

We retrospectively analyzed a total of 1239 patients who were diagnosed and treated for TB in the period from 2012 to 2021 at University Clinical Center of Serbia.

Drug resistance was identified in 21 patients (1.7%), with the highest resistance to rifampicin (1.4%) and isoniazid (1.3%). Pyrazinamide and streptomycin resistance were detected in only a few cases. Patients with resistant TB were younger on average, though the difference was not statistically significant (46.4 ± 19.1 vs. 53.6 ± 18.4, p = 0.079). Prior TB history was more frequent in the resistant group, almost reaching statistical significance (4 vs. 82, p = 0.052).

These findings underscore the critical importance of sustained surveillance, particularly of latent and drug-resistant TB forms, in alignment with the World Health Organization's (WHO) TB control strategy to preserve Serbia's low-incidence status. Moreover, given Serbia's strategic location on a major migration route, there is an elevated risk of new TB cases emerging and potential shifts in TB-drug-resistance patterns developing in the future.