Tuberculosis is a major public health problem worldwide. Our study aimed to investigate epidemiological and demographic characteristics of tuberculosis infection and resistance to antituberculous drugs in Iasi County in 2009.
Material and method: We have analysed the epidemiological parameters for 687 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis, new cases confirmed by microscopy and cultivation on Lowenstein Jensen. First and second-line antituberculous susceptibility testing was done for 130 strains, using agar proportion method and absolute-concentration method.
Results: The number of new cases of tuberculosis was higher in rural areas and in males 41-50 years old (sex ratio=2.22). The proportion of positive cases in microscopy was 81.51%. Drug resistance was as follows: 16 isolates (12.3%) to isoniazid, 5 (3.84%) to rifampin, 2 (1.53%) to ethambutol, 2 (1.53%) to streptomycin and 4 (3.07%) were multidrug-resistant.
Conclusions: In this study we found high resistance rates to isoniazid, streptomycin and ethambutol. This requires increasing efficiency of tuberculosis diagnosis and susceptibility testing.