Culture and drug susceptibility testing among previously treated tuberculosis patients in the Dominican Republic, 2014

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is a major public health concern that threatens global progress toward effective TB control. The risk of MDR-TB is increased in patients who have received previous TB treatment. This article describes the performance of culture and drug susceptibility testing (DST) in patients registered as previously treated TB patients in the Dominican Republic in 2014, based on operational research that followed a retrospective cohort design and used routine program data. Under the current system of TB culturing and DST, the majority of patients with previously treated TB do not undergo DST, and those who do often experience considerable delay in obtaining their results. The lack of DST and delay in receiving DST results leads to underestimation of the number of MDR-TB cases and hinders the timely initiation of MDR-TB treatment.