Prevalence and distribution patterns of drug resistance in <i>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</i> to first-line antituberculosis drugs in Urumqi, China

This study aimed to investigate the epidemic status and distribution characteristics of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Urumqi. From January 2019 to July 2024, all sputum culture-positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains were collected in Urumqi. Using the traditional solid-state proportion method for drug-sensitivity testing, we determined the resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to first-line antituberculosis (TB) drugs. The epidemic status and distribution characteristics of first-line antituberculosis drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis were analyzed using R statistical software (version 3.6.1). Among the 1,241 culture-positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains included in this analysis, 973 (78.40%) were smear positive. The overall proportion of non-tuberculous mycobacteria was 2.5%. The overall prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) was 18.93%, with a prevalence of 17.78% in new cases and 24.40% in retreatment cases, respectively. In this survey, the overall prevalence was 10.91% (132 out of 1,210) for mono-drug-resistant tuberculosis, 3.72% (45 out of 1,210) for polydrug-resistant tuberculosis, and 4.30% (52 out of 1,210) for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Moreover, the patterns of resistance to first-line anti-TB drugs were highly diverse. The drug-resistance rate among retreatment tuberculosis patients in Urumqi remains notably high. Thus, enhancing drug-resistance surveillance in these patients is critical for effective tuberculosis prevention and control in the region. IMPORTANCE The result of this study indicated that DR-TB is a serious public health problem in Urumqi. Resistance drugs distributed type to first-line anti-TB drugs are very broad in Urumqi. Any resistance to anti-TB drugs in new cases is more than in retreatment cases.