Search

Drug-resistant Tuberculosis (DR-TB) has become more prevalent in resource limited developing countries globally. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of monoresistant TB (MTB) and multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB), and to describe the drugs that patients were resistant to, at the district hospital, South Rand Hospital, Johannesburg. A retrospective study using patients' records was conducted at the hospital's TB wards. Records of patients older than 18 years of age were included in the study. Of the 200 patients files identified, 140 (70%) of the patients were males and 60 (30%) were females. Just less than half of patients 86 (43%) were in the age group of 30-39 years and only one patient in the age group of 80-89 years. The majority of patients, 147 (73%) were HIV positive, 32 (16%) patients' HIV status was unknown, while 11 (5.5%) patients were HIV negative. MTB had the highest prevalence (n=163, 81.5%) and MDR-TB with the lowest prevalence (n=37, 18.5%) of cases. Evidently the study indicated that the prevalence of DR-TB was higher in males and that most of the patients affected were HIV positive. MTB had the highest prevalence at this district hospital and a future prospective study may provide more information on the increasing trend of drug resistant TB in South Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]