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Objective: To investigate a multi-institutional outbreak of highly resistant tuberculosis and evaluate patient outcome.Design: Epidemiologic investigation of every tuberculosis case reported in New York City.Setting: Patients cared for at all public and nonpublic institutions from January 1, 1990, to August 1, 1993 (43 months).Patients: We reviewed medical and public health records and conducted clinical, epidemiologic, drug susceptibility, and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses. A case was defined as tuberculosis in a patient with an isolate resistant to isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol hydrochloride, and streptomycin (and rifabutin, if sensitivity testing included it), and, if RFLP testing was done, a pattern identical to or closely related to strain W.Main Outcome Measures: Patient survival and the conversion of sputum cultures from positive to negative.Results: Of the 357 patients who met the case definition, 267 had identical or nearly identical RFLP patterns; isolates from the other 90 patients were not available for RFLP testing. Among these 267 patients, 86% were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected, 7% were HIV-negative, and 7% had unknown HIV status. All-cause mortality was 83%. Epidemiologic linkages were identified for 70% of patients, of whom 96% likely had nosocomially acquired disease at 11 hospitals. Survival was prolonged among patients who received medications to which their isolate was susceptible, especially capreomycin sulfate, and among patients with a CD4+ T-lymphocyte count greater than 0.200 x 10(9)/L (200/microL). Treatment with isoniazid and a fluoroquinolone antibiotic was also independently associated with longer survival.Conclusions: This outbreak accounted for nearly one fourth of the cases of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in the United States during a 43-month period. Most patients had nosocomially acquired disease, were infected with HIV, and unless promptly and appropriately treated, died rapidly. With appropriate directly observed treatment, especially combinations including an injectable medication, even severely immunocompromised patients had culture conversion and prolonged, tuberculosis-free survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE. To determine the accuracy and frequency of reporting tuberculosis as either the contributing or underlying cause of death on death certificates in New York City during 1992. METHODS. Death certificates from 1992 that listed tuberculosis were matched with the New York City tuberculosis registry. For those persons who had tuberculosis listed as a cause of death, but who were not listed in the registry, medical records were reviewed. The frequency of reporting tuberculosis on death certificates in patients who died with active tuberculosis was evaluated in the second part of this study. Death certificates of patients with active tuberculosis (persons who died within six months of starting anti-tuberculosis medications) in 1992 were reviewed. RESULTS. Tuberculosis was listed on 635 death certificates; 377 (59%) were confirmed cases based on registry data. Reviews of medical records were possible for 230 (89%) of the remaining 258 patients and confirmed only two additional tuberculosis cases. Of 310 persons who died with active tuberculosis in 1992 (second part of the study), only 104 (34%) had tuberculosis listed on their death certificates. CONCLUSIONS. In New York City, a diagnosis of tuberculosis on death certificates is an inaccurate measure of tuberculosis burden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors assessed drug susceptibility patterns among tuberculosis patients reported to the New York City Department of Health in the first quarters of 1991 and 1992. Resistance to one or more drugs was seen in 26 percent (137 divided into 520) in 1991 and 24 percent (122 divided into 517) in 1992. Resistance to isoniazid was seen in 22 percent and 19 percent of patients in 1991 and 1992, respectively; resistance to rifampin in 15 percent and 14 percent; and to both isoniazid and rifampin in 15 percent and 14 percent. Combined resistance to four first line drugs (isoniazid, rifampin, streptomycin, and ethambutol) was seen in 6 percent (1991) and 8 percent (1992). Patients with organisms resistant to both isoniazid and rifampin were as likely among U.S. born as among foreign born, and younger patients were more likely than older patients to have isoniazid and rifampin resistant organisms. These findings underscore the importance of obtaining susceptibility testing in all patients who have cultures positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the factors associated with survival in patients with pulmonary and extrapulmonary tuberculosis in New York City.Design: Observational study of a citywide cohort of tuberculosis cases.Setting: New York City, April 1991, before the strengthening of its control program.Patients: All 229 newly diagnosed cases of tuberculosis documented by culture in April 1991. Most patients (74%) were male, and the median age was 37 years (range, 1-89 years). In all, 89% belonged to minority groups. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection was present in 50% and multidrug resistance in 7% of the cases. Twenty-one patients (9%) were not treated.Main Outcome Measures: Follow-up information was collected through the New York City tuberculosis registry; death from any cause was verified through the National Death Index.Results: Cumulative all-cause mortality by October 1994 was 44%; the median survival for those who died was 6.3 months (range, 0 days to 3 years). The most important baseline predictors of mortality, adjusted for baseline clinical and demographic factors, were acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (91% vs 11% in HIV-seronegative patients; Cox relative risk [RR], 7.8; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.1-29.1), multidrug resistance (87% vs 39% in pansensitive cases; adjusted RR, 5.8; 95% CI, 2.3-14.5), and lack of treatment (81% vs 40%; adjusted RR, 3.1; 95% CI, 1.0-9.7). Also, 11 of 13 HIV-infected patients who started treatment after a 1-month delay died. Among 173 patients surviving the recommended treatment period, those who completed therapy (66%) had a lower subsequent mortality (20% vs 37%; RR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.3-0.9).Conclusions: Mortality from tuberculosis was high, even among patients without multidrug resistance who were not known to be infected with HIV. Most HIV-seropositive patients with delayed therapy died. Multidrug resistance predicted higher mortality, and treatment completion was associated with improved subsequent patient survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]