Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis among male inmates in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Susceptibility tests to six anti-tuberculosis drugs were performed on fifty-eight M. tuberculosis isolates obtained from tuberculous inmates in the Male Penal Sanatorium, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The rate of resistant tuberculosis was higher than that observed in the community. The overall resistance rate was 17.2% and 3.4% of the isolates were multi-drug resistant.