Screening outcomes from patients with suspected multidrug-resistant tuberculosis: lessons learned in the Philippines.

Setting: The high prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in the Philippines is a challenge for the National TB Programme.

Objective: To assess patterns of drug resistance and screening outcomes among MDR-TB suspects evaluated from 2003 to 2008 at DOTS-Plus clinics in the Philippines.

Methods: Descriptive study of 4897 consecutive patients with suspected MDR-TB.

General practitioners' experiences of patients with drug and alcohol problems.

Convergent focus groups, a qualitative research methodology, were used to determine what general practitioners considered to be the main obstacles and disincentives to the effective management of persons with drug and alcohol problems. Seven groups were conducted, involving 44 general practitioners whose practices were based in representative parts of metropolitan Sydney and a rural area of New South Wales. The study revealed that most doctors are not as threatened, resistant or pessimistic about drug and alcohol intervention as much of the previous work in the area would suggest.