A high prevalence of resistance in new tuberculosis cases of midwestern Brazil

Tuberculosis (TB) is a serious worldwide public health problem, and drug resistance, particularly multidrug resistance (MDR), is a critical factor involved in TB control. We analyzed Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from 132 new TB cases of treatment-naïve patients in Goiás, Brazil by drug susceptibility tests, partial sequencing of the rpoB and katG genes, inhA C-15T mutation analysis by PCR, and RFLP-IS6110 genotyping. A high frequency of drug resistance was observed in previously untreated patients (13.6% to at least one antibiotic and 6.1% MDR-TB), and a high rate DNA polymorphism was detected in these strains. These results suggest that the prevalence of resistant TB is underestimated and that resistance in new TB cases was not associated with an outbreak in this region. We recommend routine culture and susceptibility testing for all new TB cases in Goiás for the appropriate treatment and control of this disease.