The imminent threat of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Singapore.
- Author:
Cynthia Bin-Eng CHEE
1
;
Kyi Win KHIN-MAR
;
Jeffery CUTTER
;
Yee Tang WANG
Author Information
1. TB Control Unit, Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, Tan Tock Seng Hospital, Singapore. cynthia_chee@ttsh.com.sg
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- MeSH:
Antitubercular Agents;
therapeutic use;
Emigrants and Immigrants;
Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis;
epidemiology;
Humans;
Mycobacterium tuberculosis;
Singapore;
epidemiology;
Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant;
drug therapy;
epidemiology;
transmission
- From:Singapore medical journal
2012;53(4):238-240
- CountrySingapore
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
The global emergence of multidrugresistant (MDR) tuberculosis (TB) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB threatens to derail the efforts of TB control programmes worldwide. From 2000 to 2010, 161 pulmonary MDR-TB cases (including six XDR-TB cases) were reported in Singapore, and of these, 80% occurred among the foreign-born, with an increasing trend seen after 2004. Among new pulmonary TB cases, the highest incidence of MDR-TB occurred among patients from Myanmar (8%), followed by Vietnam (4.4%) and China (2.3%), while among those previously treated, the highest incidence was found in patients from Vietnam (50%), followed by Indonesia (33%) and Bangladesh (33%). Although the proportion of Singapore-born pulmonary TB cases with MDR-TB has remained comparatively low (0.2% and 1.3% in new and previously treated cases, respectively), there is no room for complacency. Top priority must be accorded toward the proper treatment of drug-susceptible TB cases under strict programme conditions so as to prevent the development of MDR-TB in the first place.
