Abstract:
Introduction. Standard treatment regimen containing 4 second line tuberculosis drugs (SLD) is
currently prescribed in multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) patients while drug sensitivity
test (DST) results are pending. However, potential additional resistance to SLD could lead to
exposure of these patients to non-efficient toxic regimen during 2-4 weeks of pending period.
Therefore, data on frequency of additional SDL resistance in MDR TB patients is crucial for
programmatic decision on treatment policies in this group of patients.
