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Updated: Jun 28, 2026

Demonstrating a Multi-drug Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis Amplification Microarray
Published on: April 25, 2014
Trends, Patterns, and Demographic Dynamics of Drug Resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Nontuberculous: A
Sahar Sadeghi Mofrad1, Mohsen Maleknia1, Parissa Farnia1
1Mycobacteriology Research Center (MRC), National Research Institute of Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases (NRITLD), Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Background And Objective:
Drug-resistant (DR) mycobacterial infections present escalating threats in Iran, where facility-specific transmission dynamics and demographic disparities remain poorly characterized. This study evaluated the epidemiology of DR Mycobacterium tuberculosis and pulmonary nontuberculous mycobacterial disease over a 9-year period (2016-2024).
Materials And Methods:
This retrospective study analyzed 21,700 molecular and culture-confirmed mycobacterial samples. Species identification used line probe assays and Xpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/rifampin. Drug susceptibility testing followed World Health Organization standards. Statistical analyses identified associations between resistance patterns, hospital sections, gender, and specimen types.
Results:
MDR-TB prevalence surged from 0.35% (2017) to 3.27% (2022), peaking during pandemic disruptions. M. simiae dominated nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) resistance (55.63% of resistant isolates), with significant increases in 2024 (7.91%). Airborne infection isolation rooms (AIIRs) paradoxically harbored 18.22% of Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB)isolates (p < 0.0001), while pulmonary medicine units contained zoonotic M. bovis reservoirs (0.27% MDR prevalence). Male patients carried higher burdens of MDR-TB (26.01% vs. 12.45%, p = 0.005) and M. kansasii (2.05% vs. 0.53%, p = 0.012). Diagnostic challenges included 38.14% smear-negative M. abscessus and gastrointestinal NTMs (M. genavense 66.66%). Sample type analysis revealed M. fortuitum in 25.0% of abscesses (p < 0.05) and M. chelonae in 5.55% of synovial fluid (SF) specimens.
Conclusion:
Iran faces converging epidemics of MDR-TB and climate-adapted NTMs concentrated in hospital hotspots, with significant gender disparities. Precision interventions targeting AIIR protocols, water safety regulations, and gender-specific screening are urgently needed.
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