DETECTION OF RIFAMPICIN RESISTANCE IN PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS BY LOWENSTEIN JENSEN CULTURE METHOD.

Abstract

Objective: Pulmonary Tuberculosis a transmissible disease is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). M.tuberculosis is gaining resistance to first line Anti-TB drugs, thus leading to drug resistant pulmonary tuberculosis (DR-PTB). Our study attempted to determine rifampicin resistance in mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. Study Design: A cross sectional study.Place and Duration: The Department of Microbiology BMSI, JPMC Karachi from October 2015- September 2016. Material and Methods: The study was conducted on 220 pulmonary TB suspects (fresh and retreated) on clinical and radiological grounds. A history of contact with MDR- TB patients and previous use of anti-tuberculosis therapy were documented. All sputum samples were analyzed by the lowenstein Jensen (LJ) culture media. Results: Among 220 PTB cases 167 (75.90 %) were MTB positive. Out of 167, 35 (20.95%) were RIF positive. Among RIF resistant cases male to female ratio was more than 6:1 (57.14: 8.98). Primary and secondary RIF resistance were found as 4.79%, 16.16% respectively. Among secondary resistance 10.77% and 5.38% were found defaulters and relapse patients consecutively. Conclusion: Secondary rifampicin resistant PTB is continuously increasing in our community so detection of RIF