[Components of monitoring drug resistance of tuberculosis agent in the evaluation of effectiveness of the national tuberculosis control program].

The authors analyzed the changes and pattern of drug-resistance in tuberculosis pathogen by using the reports of over 700 microbiological laboratories of tuberculosis control service in Russia in the past 20 years (1979-1998), which yielded a monitoring system for drug resistance in the pathogen in this country. Seven underlying informational blocks were identified. These included more than 20 different quantitative and qualitative parameters covering the characteristics of a patient and the pathogen and regionally environmental and epidemiological indices. Analysis of the data on the united northern, west-northern, and Baltic regions is given as an example of successful use of the monitoring system.