WHAT ARE THE OBJECTIVES FOR SURVEILLANCE OF DRUG-RESISTANT TB?
Although surveillance studies share the common goal of measuring the burden of drug-resistant TB, these studies may differ both in the specific objectives they are designed to accomplish and in the public health policy implications of their results. First, surveillance studies may quantify the incidence (rate of occurrence) of drug resistance among individuals initially infected with drug-sensitive TB who acquire resistance as a result of ineffective therapy (Figure 1, arrow b). If such a study detected a high incidence of acquired resistance, this result might indicate deficiencies in the treatment of individual patients and would suggest that improvements in availability, delivery, and adherence to standard treatment regimens would reduce resistance in this setting.
