There is now
evidence pointing to a strain of DR-TB thriving in the presence of some antibiotics;
We report a case of rifampicin (RMP) dependent/enhanced multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) from a patient who had been treated with the World Health Organization optional thrice-weekly treatment and document the clinical and bacteriological features. RMP-enhanced tubercle bacilli that grew poorly without RMP but grew better in its presence were isolated from the patient with treatment failure.
Said senior author
John Hopkins Professor
Ying Zhang
“Rifampin-dependent tuberculosis is an unrecognized and potentially serious treatment issue,”
Detection is an issue
rifampin-dependent tuberculosis is difficult to detect and may be a bigger problem than we currently realize, since the bacteria do not grow well in the culture medium unless rifampin is added.
