Drug-resistant tuberculosis among foreign-born persons in Italy.

Over the last few years, drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) has emerged as an important threat to public health in industrialised countries. In Italy, the most recent data on resistance to the first-line drugs (FLDs) streptomycin (S), isoniazid (H), rifampicin (R) and ethambutol (E) were reported for the period 1998\u20132001. These studies determined the prevalence of resistance among new cases and previously treated cases, but no information was available on the contribution of immigration, which plays an important role on TB epidemiology in low-incidence countries

Proficiency testing of first- and second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in Italy.

The emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) is an increasing threat to public health in industrialised countries; thus, it is important to supervise mycobacteriology laboratories by performing periodic proficiency of anti-TB drug susceptibility testing (DST). In 1994, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases developed a global project of anti-TB drug resistance surveillance to assist countries via a network of supranational reference laboratories (SRLs). Proficiency test (PT) results of first-line anti-TB drugs have been reported for the SRL network and for some individual countries

Tuberculosis in migrants from 106 countries to Italy, 2008-2014

Tuberculosis (TB) is a major infectious disease worldwide. Over recent years, TB caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains (resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) strains (MDR strains resistant to any fluoroquinolone and to at least one injectable second-line drug (SLD), i.e. kanamycin, capreomycin or amikacin) has emerged as a public health concern in industrialised countries, due to increasing migration from regions where TB is endemic. In migrants coming to Italy from 106 countries, MDR-TB was high from the former Soviet Union and low from Afric

Trend in rifampicin-, multidrug- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis in Italy, 2009\u20132016

Tuberculosis (TB) caused by strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that are rifampicin-resistant (RR), multidrug-resistant (MDR) (strains resistant to at least isoniazid and rifampicin) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) (MDR strains resistant to any fluoroquinolone (FQ) and to at least one second-line injectable drug (SLID): kanamycin, capreomycin or amikacin) is a major threat to TB control globally. All three groups require treatment with second-line drugs (SLDs). We previously reported that MDR- and XDR-TB in Italy occurred mostly in foreign-born persons (FBPs) , but no major information on RR, MDR or XDR trends in FBPs and Italian-born persons (IBPs) were shown. Here, we documented these trends from 2009 to 201