Study of rifampicin resistance and comparison of dapsone resistance of M. leprae in pre- and post-MDT era.

The aim of this study to study the drug resistance patterns of dapsone (pre- and post-MDT) and rifampicin (post-MDT era). All the 84 patients from pre-MDT period (1985-1990) and 77 patients for post-MDT period (1990-2002) reporting to a tertiary care hospital-NJIL & OMD, Agra and referred for drug susceptibility testing were included in the study. Drug resistance was studied by mouse foot pad method. Dapsone resistance was high during pre-MDT era i.e. 8.3% (medium) and 19.1% (high) with an overall dapsone resistance of 27.4%. During the post-MDT era, the dapsone resistance was low i.e. 1.3% (medium) and 3.9% (high) respectively (overall dapsone resistance-5.2%). While no comparison with pre-MDT era is available, the rifampicin resistance in these selected self-reporting cases during the post-MDT era was comparatively rather high (9.1%). MDT appears to have been useful in reducing the prevalence of dapsone resistance in leprosy patients reporting to a tertiary care hospital.