Validity and feasability of use of a rapid and innovative test for detection of Multi Drug Resistant (MDR) TB cases in Kinshasa, DRC

Multidrug drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB), defined as resistance to both rifampicin (RMP) and isoniazid (INE), is a major concern for TB control due to the complexity of its diagnosis and treatment. The challenges posed by MDR-TB seriously jeopardize the progress made in recent years to global TB-control. In 2008, less than 5% of existing MDR-TB patients worldwide are being diagnosed as a result of serious laboratory capacity constraints. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), more than 4900 MDR-TB cases occurred in 2006 according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates. However, less than 2% have been detected and put on treatment. Conventional methods for diagnosing MDR-TB such as mycobacterial culture and drug susceptibility testing (DST) are slow and cumbersome requiring at least 2 months to isolate MDR-TB strains. This delay increases the risk of the spread of resistant strains throughout the community. This project intends firstly to validate and secondly to assess the feasibility of use of a simple molecular line probe assay: the Genotype MDR-TB plus focused on rapid detection of RMP and INH resistance among patients at increased risk for MDR-TB under field conditions of Kinshasa, DRC. The turnaround time of this probe assay is 2 days, and therefore it may lead to adequate and more rapid detection and treatment ofMDR-TB patients.

Keywords:B680-public-health