Rifampicin resistant tuberculosis among patients attending General Hospital, Kagarko, Kaduna State, Nigeria

Background: The National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Program (NTBLCP) in collaboration with Koninklijke Nederlandse Centrale Vereniging tot bestrijding der tuberculose (KNCV) (Dutch Tuberculosis Foundation) and National Agency for Control of AIDS (NACA) installed and equipped many health centres in Kaduna State, Nigeria with modern diagnostic tools (GeneXpert) to offer molecular services for the rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and rifampin resistance. Methodology: This study analyzed routine samples from patients attending General Hospital Kagarko, from September 2016 to March 2019 with total samples of 1056 from 1056 patients. The GeneXpert machine was used for the rapid detection of M. tuberculosis and rifampin resistance (RIF) from all the sputum samples received in the clinical laboratory department of the hospital. Results: A total of 182 (17.2%) samples tested positive for M. tuberculosis out of which 5 (2.7%) were resistant to rifampicin. Males were more frequently affected with a prevalence of 23% than females with a rate of 10.7% (X2=27.801, p=0.0001). RIF was detected in 3 male and 2 female patients (p=1.000). The prevalence of MTB was highest in the age group 36-45 years (23%) and age group 26-35 years (20.3%) and lowest in age group 5-15 years with 10.9% (t=0.599, p=0.55). Conclusion: There is need for the GeneXpert technology to be replicated in other health centers across the state and the country at large to reduce the burden of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Nigeria. Keywords: RIF resistance, MDR-TB, GeneXpert, Mycobacterium tuberculosi