The fourth national anti-tuberculosis drug resistance survey in Viet Nam.

Setting: Viet Nam's Fourth National Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Survey was conducted in 2011.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of resistance to the four main first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in Viet Nam.

Methods: Eighty clusters were selected using a probability proportion to size approach. Drug susceptibility testing (DST) against the four main first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs was performed.

Results: A total of 1629 smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) patients were eligible for culture. Of these, DST results were available for 1312 patients, including 1105 new TB cases, 195 previously treated TB cases and 12 cases with an unknown treatment history. The proportion of cases with resistance to any drug was 32.7% (95%CI 29.1-36.5) among new cases and 54.2% (95%CI 44.3-63.7) among previously treated cases. The proportion of multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) cases was 4.0% (95%CI 2.5-5.4) in new cases and 23.3 (95%CI 16.7-29.9) in previously treated cases.

Conclusions: The fourth drug resistance survey in Viet Nam found that the proportion of MDR-TB among new and previously treated cases was not significantly different from that in the 2005 survey. The National TB Programme should prioritise the detection and treatment of MDR-TB to reduce transmission of MDR-TB in the community.