Outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in South Africa undetected by WHO-endorsed commercial tests: an observational study Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde KU Leuven
Background Global roll-out of rapid molecular assays is revolutionising the diagnosis of rifampicin resistance, predictive of multidrug-resistance, in tuberculosis. However, 30% of the multidrug-resistant (MDR) strains in an eSwatini study harboured the Ile491Phe mutation in the rpoB gene, which is associated with poor rifampicin-based treatment outcomes but is missed by commercial molecular assays or scored as susceptible by phenotypic ...