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Indian Pediatr 2012;49: 335 |
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The Term "Partial Extensively Drug Resistance"
in Tuberculosis is Superfluous
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T Jacob John And Joy Sarojini Michael,
Department of Clinical Microbiology, Christian Medical
College, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, 632 002, India.
Email: [email protected]
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The paper by Shah and Rahangdale on drug resistant tuberculosis (TB) in
children is an eye opener to some neglected aspects of TB problem in
India [1]. However, the term "partial XDR" as coined by the authors is
eye-catching but superfluous; all of their study strains were MDR
(multidrug resistant) with fluoroquinolone resistance.
Primary MDR TB in children, as illustrated by Shah
and Rahangdale has already become a difficult problem. If a child
acquires infection from an MDR TB adult, preventive chemotherapy with
isoniazid or rifampicin or a combination will be ineffective.
Extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB in adults in
India is an emerging problem, already an emergency in our opinion, but
not yet 2.4% of all MDR cases as mentioned by the authors. As far as we
can verify, the World Health Organization has recognized only 1 case of
XDR TB in India, while many such cases have been reported in the
literature [2]. We strongly recommend to the Indian Academy of
Pediatrics to urgently develop policy options for community level
prevention of TB and take them up with the national TB control program
at the highest level.
References
1. Shah I, Rahangdale A. Partial extensively drug
resistance (XDR) tuberculosis in children. Indian Pediatr.
2011;48:977-9.
2. Myneedu VP, Visalakshi P, Verma AK, Behera D, Bhalla M. Prevalence
of XDR TB cases- A retrospective study from a tertiary care TB hospital.
Ind J Tuberc. 2011;58:54-9.
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