Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To explore the prevalence, risk and genetic characteristics of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) from a tertiary care TB hospital in China. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We carried out a retrospective study including isolates from 189 patients with pulmonary TB at Fuzhou Pulmonary Hospital. All isolates from these patients were subjected to drug susceptibility testing and genotyping. For drug-resistant isolates, DNA sequencing was used to investigate mutations in 12 loci, including katG, inhA, oxyR-ahpC, rpoB, rpsL, rrs (1) (nucleotides 388-1084 of rrs), embB, tlyA, eis, rrs (2) (nucleotides 1158-1674 of rrs), gyrA and gyrB. RESULTS: Among 189 isolates, 28.6% were resistant to at least one of the seven anti-TB drugs, including isoniazid (INH), rifampin (RIF), streptomycin (STR), ethambutol (EMB), capreomycin (CAP), kanzmycin (KAN) and ofloxacin (OFX). The proportion of multidrug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB isolates was 9.5% and 1.1%, respectively. Patients in rural areas as well as previously treated patients showed a significantly increased risk of developing drug resistance. In addition, among these isolates, 111 (58.7%) were Beijing genotype strains, 84 (75.7%) of which belonged to modern Beijing sublineage. There was no association between genotype and drug resistance. The most common mutations were katG315, rpo B531 rpsL43, embB306, rrs1401 and gyrA94. CONCLUSION: These findings provided additional information of drug-resistant TB in China. Previously treated patients and patients in rural areas should receive greater attention owing to their higher risk of developing drug resistance.