A review of Outcomes of Treatment among 29 cases of Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis in Johannesburg

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to describe the outcomes of treatment in patients suffering from Extensively Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (XDR-TB) who had been admitted to a specialised resistant tuberculosis treatment health facility in Johannesburg from January to December 2010. A review of records was undertaken using a data extraction form designed specifically for this study. The data collected were socio-demographic such as age, sex and employment status; clinical data such as the duration of treatment, drugs used, adverse effects, co-morbidities and outcomes of treatment. It was found that, overall, treatment outcomes were poor as the treatment success (cured plus completed) was 20.7% while 27.6% had defaulted treatment and 20.7% had died. Of those who died, 50% had been HIV-positive, 33.3% had renal failure and 16.7% had hypertension. In conclusion, treatment outcomes in XDR-TB patients at the study site had been very poor. This situation calls for more efforts to be put into decreasing the proportion of patients who default treatment; introduce new effective drugs and manage well co-morbidities that affect these patients.