Abstract

Background:Tuberculosis is most commonly found among people living in poor
conditions and in deprived areas, especially in elderly people and those with unstable
social or psychiatric backgrounds, such as hostel dwellers, street dwellers, alcoholics,
and drug misusers, as well as in immunocompromised patients.The present study was
conducted to assess fluoroquinolone resistance among pulmonary tuberculosis patients.
Materials & Methods:58 pulmonary TB patients of both genders were included. All
patients were subjected to DST for first-line drugs (FLDs) and second-line drugs. FQs
DST was also performed using automated Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube-960
liquid culture technique. The immunochromatographic assay was performed to
distinguish Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) from non-MTBC
Results: Out of 58, males were 38and females were 20. One drug resistance such as
Ofloxacin was seen in 28, levofloxacin in 3 cases, moxifloxacin in 1 and Kanamycin in 1
case. Two drug resistance such as Kanamycin+ Ofloxacin in 2 and Levofloxacin+
Ofloxacin in 1 case. Three drug resistance such as Ofloxacin+
Levofloxacin+Moxifloxacin in 1 and Ofloxacin+ Levofloxacin+ Kanamycin in 1 case and
all sensitive isolates was seen in Ofloxacin+ Levofloxacin+ Kanamycin+ Moxifloxacin in
20 cases. The difference was significant (P< 0.05).
Conclusion: Fluoroquinolone resistance among drug sensitive and multidrug resistance
tuberculosis isolates was high