Population-based survey for drug resistance of tuberculosis--Mexico, 1997.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 90 million cases of tuberculosis (TB), resulting in 30 million deaths, will occur during the 1990s. To address this problem, WHO has recommended a comprehensive strategy of directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS). Although DOTS results in cure rates of > or =80%, the worldwide emergence of strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) resistant to antimycobacterial agents threatens this strategy for TB control. In 1994, WHO and the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IUATLD) proposed the establishment of a global surveillance program to monitor drug resistance. In 1997, the Secretary of Health of Mexico, in collaboration with CDC, developed and implemented a national survey of drug resistance for TB as part of the global project on TB drug resistance. This report describes study results for three states in Mexico (Baja California, Oaxaca, and Sinaloa) and presents the first population-based TB drug-resistance data available for that country.