Outbreak of isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis in an immigrant community in Spain

Background Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major public health problem. In 2013, 9 million new cases of active TB were estimated globally and the proportion of reported new cases with multi-drug resistance (MDR) was 3.5%. Methods Contact tracing of a case of pulmonary tuberculosis was performed in a Bolivian patient. Diagnostic tests were performed according to national and local protocols. Results An outbreak of tuberculosis in an immigrant community was detected, with 5 cases originating from one index case. Genotyping and drug susceptibility testing of the sputum samples determined Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to isoniazid (KatG-msp unmutated/inhA 5 RBS CT). Active case finding revealed a total of 39 contacts with an incidence of latent infection of 71.43%. Conclusions The present study confirms the importance of active case finding through contact tracing as well as rapid laboratory diagnosis to achieve improvements in early detection of TB. Early diagnosis of the patient, compliance with appropriate treatment protocols and monitoring of drug resistance are considered essential for the prevention and control of TB.