Prevalence of Multidrug-Resistant TB Among Smear-Positive Pulmonary TB Patients in Banadir, Somalia: A Multicenter Study

Abstract

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease that is the second most common cause of death from a single infectious agent. TB infection affects anyone, regardless of age, gender, and ethnicity. Drug-resistant TB is a serious public health problem, which needs treatment with a second-line anti-TB drug and it includes poly-drug resistance (PDR), multi-drug resistance (MDR), and extensive drug resistance (XDR). The goal of this research is to find out the prevalence of MDR TB among pulmonary TB patients in Banadir, Somalia.

Methods

This was a multicenter retrospective review of data involving 1732 smear-positive pulmonary TB patients visiting Banadir TB centers between July 1, 2019 and June 30, 2020. Demographic, clinical, and drug susceptibility data were retrieved from TB treatment cards. The data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software (IBM SPSS Statistics version 26).

Results

All 1732 pulmonary TB cases were previously diagnosed by the Gene Xpert MTB/RIF test. Among them, 70.4% (1219/1732) were males. The mean age was 31.77 years. Overall, the prevalence of drug resistance TB was 10.56% (183/1732). The MDR TB was 1.96%, poly-drug resistance (PDR) was 0.12%, and extensive drug resistance was 0.06%.

Conclusion

This study showed a prevalence of MDR-TB among pulmonary TB patients, which is similar to some of the eastern African countries.

Keywords:

• TB
• drug-resistance
• poly-drug resistance
• MDR
• XDR

Data Sharing Statement

Data supporting the findings of this study are also available upon request from the corresponding author.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate

We obtained ethical approval from our hospital’s Medical Research Ethical Committee and the National TB Program before beginning this study, and both waived informed consent from study participants because this was a retrospective study.

Acknowledgments

We thank Banadir TB centers’ staff, staff of the National TB Program and the education department of our hospital for their support. We would like to send special thanks to Dr. Hafsa Abdullahi Ahmed, director of Finsoma TB Center, and Dr. Ali Akhyar, Director of Saa’id TB Center, for their special support in the data collection period.

Author Contributions

All authors made a significant contribution to this work, whether in the conception, study design, execution, acquisition of data, analysis and interpretation, also all of them took part in drafting, revising or critically reviewing the article; gave final approval of the version to be published; have agreed on the journal to which the article has been submitted; and agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Disclosure

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

There are no funding sources for this work.