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Drug resistant tuberculosis in Estonia
A Kruuner1, H Sillastu, M Danilovitsh
1Tartu University Lung Hospital, Estonia.
Setting:
The incidence of drug resistant tuberculosis in Estonia has increased rapidly during the last five to six years.
Objective:
To investigate the drug resistance patterns of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from tuberculosis patients in Estonia.
Results:
In 1994, 623 cases of tuberculosis were diagnosed in Estonia, 518 new cases with no previous history of tuberculosis, and 105 with a history of previous treatment for tuberculosis. All pulmonary M. tuberculosis isolates from 1994 were analysed for drug susceptibility. Of the 302 new cases (58.3%) that were culture verified, 28% had isolates resistant to one or more of the four drugs tested (isoniazid, rifampicin, streptomycin, ethambutol), and 9% had multi-drug resistant (resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin) strains.
Conclusion:
The incidence of drug resistance in M. tuberculosis is high in Estonia.