Incidence of antibiotic resistant tuberculosis remains low in UK

Londoners and people with HIV infection are more likely to have antibiotic resistant tuberculosis than others in the United Kingdom, but overall resistance rates are low. These findings, reported by Irish et al on p 497 come from the UK mycobacterial resistance network surveillance system. They analysed data on isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis referred to British reference laboratories in 1994-6. Of over 10 000 isolates, 5.9% were resistant to isoniazid, 174 to rifampicin, and 152 showed multidrug resistance. Others with higher rates included people with a history of tuberculosis and those aged 15-44. Increases in resistance between 1994 and 1996 were not significant.


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Database study of antibiotic resistant tuberculosis in the United Kingdom, 1994-6

Charles Irish, Josephine Herbert, Diane Bennett, Clare Gilham, Francis Drobniewski, Rhian Williams, E Grace Smith, John G Magee, Brian Watt, Maureen Chadwick, and John M Watson
BMJ 1999 318: 497-498. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]