Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the contact examination results of patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), their clinical characteristics and risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) transmission.
Methods: Follow-up charts of 34 MDR-TB patients, who are registered in four tuberculosis dispensaries in Diyarbakir and followed-up between January 2000 and December 2008 were analyzed retrospectively.
Results: The mean age of MDR-TB patients was 32.3±14.2 years. Among the person who in contact with MDR-TB index patients, 7 (20.6%) of them had TB while overall 9 contact persons developed TB disease. No significant differences were found in gender distribution, education and social security status, monthly income and past TB history between contact person who developed (n=7) and not-developed (n=27) TB disease (p>0.05).
In 17 (50.0%) of MDR-TB patients inappropriate anti-TB drug prescription and in 14 (41.1%) non-compliance to drug regimen were detected. Inappropriately prescribed anti-TB drugs and delay in TB diagnosis for index MDR-TB patients (18.7 months vs. 9.3 months, respectively; p<0.05) were more frequently encountered among contact persons who developed TB (p<0.05). The mean number of contact person for MDR-TB patients was 4.4 and 1.8 person per patient had been examined. Examination ratios for MDR-TB contact persons who did not developed TB disease was lower than those of TB developed patients (15.6% vs. 50.0%, respectively; p<0.05)
Conclusion: Insufficient follow-up and delay in diagnosis in MDR-TB patients may be significant risk factors on their contact persons; therefore it is necessary to increase the screenings and precautions in these contacts.
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Article Type: Research Article
J Clin Exp Invest, Volume 1, Issue 1, June 2010, 31-36
https://doi.org/10.5799/ahinjs.01.2010.01.0007
Publication date: 14 Apr 2010
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