Outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis at a hospital--New York City, 1991.

From January 1991 through July 1992, multidrug-resistant (i.e., resistant to at least isoniazid [INH] and rifampin [RIF]) Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) was isolated from 43 (22%) of 198 patients with newly diagnosed TB at a New York City hospital. This report summarizes an epidemiologic investigation by the hospital infection-control, infectious diseases, and employee services staffs and presents information for the 32 patients in whom MDR-TB was diagnosed during January 1991-March 1992 (these were the only patients for whom complete information was available and analyzed).