Tuberculosis in Australia: bacteriologically-confirmed cases and drug resistance, 2011: A report of the Australian Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory Network.

Tuberculosis in Australia: bacteriologically-confirmed cases and drug resistance, 2011: A report of the Australian Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory Network. Commun Dis Intell Q Rep. 2014;38(4):E369-75 Authors: Lumb R, Bastian IB, Jelfs PJ, Keehner TJ, Pandey SK, Sievers A Abstract The Australian Mycobacterium Reference Laboratory Network collects and analyses laboratory data on new cases of disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. In 2011, a total of 1,057 cases were identified bacteriologically; an annual reporting rate of 4.6 cases per 100,000 population. Eighteen children aged less than 15 years plus an additional 11 children from the Torres Strait Protected Zone had bacteriologically-confirmed tuberculosis. Results of in vitro drug susceptibility testing were available for 1,056 isolates for isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide. A total of 107 (10.0%) isolates of M. tuberculosis were resistant to at least one of these anti-tuberculosis agents. Resistance to at least isoniazid and rifampicin (defined as multi-drug resistance, MDR) was detected in 25 (2.4%) isolates; 18 were from the respiratory tract (sputum n=14, bronchoscopy n=3, tissue n=1). Ten (55.6%) of the MDR-TB-positive sputum specimens were smear-positive, as was a single sample from a lymph node. Ten patients with MDR-TB were Papua New Guinea (PNG) nationals in the Torres Strait Protected Zone. If these PNG natio...
Source: Communicable Diseases Intelligence Quarterly Report - Category: Infectious Diseases Tags: Commun Dis Intell Q Rep Source Type: research