Drug resistance profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Jos, Nigeria

The drug resistance profile of 100 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases in Jos, Nigeria, was investigated between August 2006 and September 2007. Drug susceptibility testing for 50 new, 11 follow-up and 39 unclassified cases of PTB was performed on Löwenstein-Jensen medium by the proportion method, using isoniazid (0.2 μg/ml), rifampicin (40 μg/ml), ethambutol (2 μg/ml) and streptomycin (4 μg/ml). Susceptibility to all four drugs was found in 76, 62 and 55%, and multidrug resistance (combined resistance to isoniazid and rifampicin with or without resistance to any other drug) in 4, 31 and 18% of the new, unclassified and follow-up cases, respectively. Monoresistance was found in 15% of the cases. Nine of the 16 isolates (56%) showing multidrug resistance were resistant to all four drugs. These findings are critical and the risk to public health is high, particularly with an overall multidrug resistance of 16%. We suggest that TB management and control programs in Jos are revised to enhance patient's accessibility to treatment sites, promote patients' adherence to drugs, improve diagnostic practices, regularly assess drug resistance profiles, and undertake contact tracing for patients with multidrug-resistant TB.