Kelly, P.Ardian, M.Waramori, G.Anstey, N.Syahrial, H.Tjitra, E.Bastian, I.Maguire, G.Lumb, R.2007-01-172007-01-172006International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2006; 10(2):167-1711027-37191815-7920http://hdl.handle.net/2440/23973SETTING: A district level tuberculosis (TB) control programme in Papua Province, Indonesia. OBJECTIVE: To determine the nature and extent of drug-resistant TB in newly diagnosed sputum smear-positive patients. METHODS: Sputum was collected from previously untreated smear-positive pulmonary TB patients diagnosed in the district over a 10-month period. Sputum specimens were processed and inoculated into a BACTEC MGIT960 tube. Isolates were identified by Ziehl-Neelsen staining, hybridisation with nucleic acid probes and biochemical investigations. Susceptibility testing was performed using the radiometric proportion method. Pyrazinamide testing was performed using the Wayne indirect method. RESULTS: One hundred and seven patients had sputum sent to a reference laboratory; 101 (94.4%) were culture-positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, with 87 (86.1%) fully sensitive to first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs. Two per cent were multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) and 12 (11.9%) had other drug resistance. Each of the MDR-TB isolates was susceptible to amikacin, capreomycin, ciprofloxacin and para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS), but were resistant to rifabutin. One isolate was also resistant to ethionamide. CONCLUSIONS: MDR-TB is present in Indonesia but is not a major problem for TB control in this district. Generalisability to other districts in Indonesia, particularly large urban areas, needs to be confirmed by future studies.en© 2006 Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the articletuberculosisIndonesiamulti-drug resistanceepidemiologysurveyJournal article00200600040002352326000092-s2.0-3324448830153314