Objective:

To describe the drug resistance pattern of pulmonary tuberculosis in migrant population.

Material and methods:

The databases of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases confirmed with culture positive were reviewed.

Results:

According to the medical and radiographic evaluation of 394,482 applicants that were going to emigrate to the United States, 8,775 (2.2%) were patient with suspected TB, of which, 157 (1.8%) were positive for PTB. Twenty-four patients did not have evidence of drug sensitivity, and three more had negative cultures, therefore, the investigation was carried out with only 130 cases. Only three were multidrug-resistant, 18 mono-resistant and five poly-resistant. 52% were men. The age groups with the highest number of cases were those from 51 to 60 and 71 to 80 years.

Conclusions:

The resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs is an obstacle to effectively treat TB. Case management becomes difficult and the challenge is compounded by catastrophic economic and social costs. Hence the need to work on the prevention of the factors conditioning drug resistance; and on the other hand, to insist that the pharmaceutical industry must create a new and effective anti-tuberculosis drugs with fewer side effects and at a lower cost.