Objective: To assess the prevalence of Primary drug resistance to Antituberculous drugs in NWFP METHOD: A cross-sectional prevalence study was undertaken to evaluate the prevalence of drug resistance among new TB patients, using a non-probability convenience sampling methodology. Sample size was calculated according to the population and WHO's estimated incidence of smear positive tuberculosis in the province/country. Sputum samples were obtained from 122 newly diagnosed patients of pulmonary tuberculosis from centres in Peshawar and Abbotabad in NWFP.
Results: Sensitivities were performed by proportion method which showed the following resistance values in 118 eligible patients: 15 (12.7%) samples showed primary resistance to one or more drugs. 8 (6.4%) isolates were resistant to a single drug, 2 (1.6%) were resistant to 2 drugs, 4 (3.2%) to 3 drugs, 1 (0.8%) to 4 drugs while none to all 5 first line agents. Resistance to Streptomycin (10 microg/ml) was seen in 7 (5.9%), Isoniazid (1 microg/ml) in 10 (8.4%), Rifampicin (5 microg/ml) in 3 (2.5%), Ethambutol (10 microg/ml) in 2 (1.6%) and Pyrazinamide in 6 (5.0%) samples. Primary Multidrug resistance was 2.5%.
Conclusion: This study suggests that prevalence of MDR amongst untreated patients in NWFP is 2.5%, which is a cause of concern and should be addressed through effective TB control programmes with DOTS strategy.