High rate of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Indian AIDS patients

Abstract

Fifty-four full-blown AIDS patients suspected of having HIV-tuberculosis co-infection were investigated for the prevalence of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Out of the 54 patients, M. tuberculosis was isolated from 24 (44.4%). Twelve (50%) isolates of these had resistance to first-line drugs, whereas four (33.33%) were also resistant to second-line drugs. All four patients, in whom XDR M. tuberculosis was isolated, died within 2.6 months of diagnosis.