Abstract
To determine the resistant rate of tuberculosis against four first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs, we reviewed the drug-susceptibility results of the patients with tuberculosis who were admitted to the four participating National Hospitals in 1994 and 1999. Among the patients with no prior chemotherapy against tuberculosis, the complete resistance rates in 1994 and 1999 were 1.2% and 2.0% for isoniazid (INH), 0.21% and 1.3% for rifampicin (RFP), 3.9% and 3.9% for streptomycin (SM), 0.41% and 0.34% for ethambutol (EB), and 0% and 0.5% for multiple drugresistant (MDR) tuberculosis. The acquired resistance rates in 1994 and 1999 were 22.4% and 16.7% for INH, 24.0% and 13.9% for RFP, 16.4% and 6.9% for SM, 11.9% and 5.6% for EB, and 14.9% and 5.6% for MDR. Our results indicated that between 1994 and 1999 there were no significant increase in drug-resistant tuberculosis in patients with no prior treatment and a decreasing trend of the resistance rate in the patients with prior treatment of tuberculosis. A multi-drug regimen currently considered as a standard chemotherapy does not seem to induce a significant increase in drug-resistant tuberculosis.
