TY - JOUR AU - Elmi, Omar Sald AU - Hasan, Habsah AU - Abdullah, Sarimah AU - Mat Jeab, Mat Zuki AU - Bin Alwi, Zilfalil AU - Naing, Nyi Nyi PY - 2015/10/29 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and risk factors associated with its development: a retrospective study JF - The Journal of Infection in Developing Countries JA - J Infect Dev Ctries VL - 9 IS - 10 SE - Original Articles DO - 10.3855/jidc.6162 UR - https://jidc.org/index.php/journal/article/view/26517482 SP - 1076-1085 AB - <p class="SmallText">Introduction: Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has emerged as a major clinical public health threat and challenges the national TB control program in Malaysia. Data that elaborates on the risk factors associated with the development of MDR-TB is highly limited in this country. This study was aimed to determine the risk factors associated with the development of MDR-TB patients in peninsular Malaysia<em>. </em></p> <p class="SmallText">Methodology: This was a case control study; the data were collected from medical records of all the registered MDR-TB patients at five referral TB hospitals in peninsular Malaysia from January 2010 to April 2014. The 105 cases were all confirmed by a positive sputum culture of <em>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </em>for MDR-TB and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB. As a comparison, a total of 209 non-MDR-TB cases were randomly selected as controls.</p> <p class="SmallText">Results: A total of 105 MDR-TB and 209 non MDR-TB patients were studied. The risk factors associated with MDR-TB within the multivariate analysis were previous tuberculosis treatment, HIV infection, being an immigrant, and high load of positive for acid-fast bacillus (AFB) smear.</p> <p class="SmallText">Conclusions: The findings of this study revealed that patients who had received previous treatment for tuberculosis, were infected with HIV, were immigrants, and had a high burden of positive testing for AFB smear were more likely to have MDR-TB. An enhanced understanding of the risk factors associated with MDR-TB strains is imperative in the development of a national policy for public health interventions.</p> ER -