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Volume 14, Number 9—September 2008
Perspective

Underreported Threat of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Africa

Yanis Ben AmorComments to Author , Bennett Nemser, Angad Singh, Alyssa Sankin, and Neil Schluger
Author affiliations: Columbia University, New York, New York, USA;

Main Article

Table 1

Prevalence of MDR TB among combined TB cases by country, Africa*

Country MDR resistance value, % (95% CI) Nationwide study Year Reference References for other convenience sample surveys
Algeria 1.4† (0.5–2.7) NA NA (11)
Angola 2.1† (0.6–8.9) NA NA (11)
Benin 1.0† (0.2–3.9) NA NA (11)
Botswana 1.6‡ (0.8–1.9) Countrywide survey 2002 (1) (17,18)
Burkina Faso 2.6† (8.8–11.0) NA NA (11) (19)
Burundi 1.4§ Bujumbura survey 2006 (20)
Cameroon 2.0† (0.6–8.9) NA NA (11) (12,13)
Central African Republic 2.2¶ (1.0–3.4) Countryside survey 1998 (1) (21)
Chad 1.9† (0.5–9.0) NA (11) (22)
Congo, Brazzaville 1.8† (0.5–8.2) NA NA (11)
Côte d’Ivoire 5.4† (3.2–8.4) NA NA (11) (23)
Democratic Republic of Congo 5.8¶ (0.6–10.3) Kinshasa survey 1999 (1)
Equatorial Guinea 3.4§ 5 of 18 survey districts 2004 (24)
Eritrea 1.9† (0.5–9.0) NA NA (11)
Ethiopia 2.5¶ Countrywide survey 2005 (1) (25–27)
Gabon 1.8† (0.6–8.1) NA NA (11)
Gambia 0.4¶ (0.0–1.4) Countrywide survey 2000 (28)
Ghana 1.9† (0.5–8.7) NA NA (11)
Guinea 2.1¶ (1.0–3.0) Sentinel sites survey 1998 (1)
Guinea-Bissau 2.6† (0.8–1.4) NA NA (11)
Kenya 0¶ (0.0–1.1) Nearly countrywide survey 1995 (1) (29–31)
Lesotho 1.6¶ (0.4–2.6) Countrywide survey 1995 (1)
Madagascar 0.7¶ (0.7–10.3) Countrywide survey 2007 (1) (14)
Malawi 1.9† (0.5–9.3) NA NA (11) (15,16)
Mali 1.5† (0.3–7.9) NA NA (11)
Mauritius 1.4† (0.4–6.4) NA NA (11)
Mozambique 3.5¶ (2.5–4.6) Countrywide survey 1999 (1) (32,33)
Namibia 1.5† (0.4–7.1) NA NA (11)
Niger 2.7† (0.8–11.5) NA NA (11)
Nigeria 2.0† (0.6–9.3) NA NA (11)
Rwanda 4.6 Countrywide survey 2005 (34)
Senegal 4.3¶ (0.8–10.6) Countrywide survey 2006 (1)
Sierra Leone 3.1¶ (0.3–4.0) Nearly countrywide survey 1997 (1)
South Africa 3.1¶ (2.2–3.0) Countrywide survey 2002 (1) (2,35–39)
Swaziland 1.9¶ (0.5–3.1) Countrywide survey 1995 (1)
Togo 2.1† (0.6–9.5) NA NA (11)
Uganda 1¶ (0.1–1.6) 3 district surveys 1997 (1)
Tanzania 1¶ (0.6–9.8) Countrywide survey 2007 (1)
Zambia 1.8¶ (0.8–3.1) Countrywide survey 2000 (1)
Zimbabwe 2.2¶ (1.3–4.0) Nearly countrywide survey 1995 (1)

*TB, tuberculosis; MDR TB, multidrug-resistant TB; CI, confidence interval; NA, not available.
†Formulaic.
‡National Drug Resistance survey.
§Convenience sample survey.
¶World Health Organization.

Main Article

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Page updated: July 13, 2010
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