• N Sarita Shah, Sara C Auld, James C M Brust, Barun Mathema, Nazir Ismail, Pravi Moodley, Koleka Mlisana, Salim Allana, Angela Campbell, Thuli Mthiyane, Natashia Morris, Primrose Mpangase, Hermina van der Meulen, Shaheed V Omar, Tyler S Brown, Apurva Narechania, Elena Shaskina, Thandi Kapwata, Barry Kreiswirth, and Neel R Gandhi.
• From the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and School of Medicine (N.S.S., S.C.A., S.A., A.C., N.R.G.) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (N.S.S.) - both in Atlanta; Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center (N.S.S., J.C.M.B., N.R.G.), Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (B.M., T.S.B.), and the American Museum of Natural History (A.N.) - all in New York; the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg (N.I., H.M., S.V.O.), University of KwaZulu-Natal and National Health Laboratory Service, Durban (P. Moodley, K.M., T.M., P. Mpangase), and the South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town (N.M., T.K.) - all in South Africa; and the Public Health Research Institute, New Jersey Medical School-Rutgers University, Newark (E.S., B.K.).
• N. Engl. J. Med. 2017 Jan 19; 376 (3): 243253243-253.

BackgroundDrug-resistant tuberculosis threatens recent gains in the treatment of tuberculosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection worldwide. A widespread epidemic of extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis is occurring in South Africa, where cases have increased substantially since 2002. The factors driving this rapid increase have not been fully elucidated, but such knowledge is needed to guide public health interventions.MethodsWe conducted a prospective study involving 404 participants in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, with a diagnosis of XDR tuberculosis between 2011 and 2014. Interviews and medical-record reviews were used to elicit information on the participants' history of tuberculosis and HIV infection, hospitalizations, and social networks. Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates underwent insertion sequence (IS)6110 restriction-fragment-length polymorphism analysis, targeted gene sequencing, and whole-genome sequencing. We used clinical and genotypic case definitions to calculate the proportion of cases of XDR tuberculosis that were due to inadequate treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis (i.e., acquired resistance) versus those that were due to transmission (i.e., transmitted resistance). We used social-network analysis to identify community and hospital locations of transmission.ResultsOf the 404 participants, 311 (77%) had HIV infection; the median CD4+ count was 340 cells per cubic millimeter (interquartile range, 117 to 431). A total of 280 participants (69%) had never received treatment for MDR tuberculosis. Genotypic analysis in 386 participants revealed that 323 (84%) belonged to 1 of 31 clusters. Clusters ranged from 2 to 14 participants, except for 1 large cluster of 212 participants (55%) with a LAM4/KZN strain. Person-to-person or hospital-based epidemiologic links were identified in 123 of 404 participants (30%).ConclusionsThe majority of cases of XDR tuberculosis in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, an area with a high tuberculosis burden, were probably due to transmission rather than to inadequate treatment of MDR tuberculosis. These data suggest that control of the epidemic of drug-resistant tuberculosis requires an increased focus on interrupting transmission. (Funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others.).

34 keywords...

hide…