Abstract: Objective To determine the drug resistance prevalence in 2001 and its trends from 1996 to 2001 in Henan,as well as to evaluate the implementation of the tuberculosis control program and to provide reference evidence for policy makers of tuberculosis control.Methods 30 centers were randomly selected using clustering sampling method.The intake of patients in every center was successively,that is,all smear positive cases(patients with or without treatment history) in the intake period were enrolled,until the 43 new cases in each center were completed.Sputum smear microscope test was carried out using the Ziehl-Neelsen technique.All smear positive sputum samples were cultured using Loewenstein-Jensen medium,and identification of M.TB of all culture positive strains was carried out using TCH and PNB.Proportion method was used for drug susceptibility tests for the four anti-tuberculosis drugs,isoniazid,rifampicin,streptomycin and ethambutol.Results The total,initial and acquired drug resistance rate are 35.3%,29.8% and 60.8% respectively.And the total,initial and acquired Multi-drug resistance(MDR) rate are 12.9%,7.8% and 36.6% respectively.Compared with the drug resistance prevalence in 1996,the total,initial drug resistance rate,as well as the total and initial MDR rate in 2001 decreased significantly,while the acquired drug resistance rate and its MDR rate did not show significant change.Conclusion The drug resistance prevalence in Henan is still the highest out of the five provinces surveyed in China,and one out of the highest countries in the world,which should be paid much attention.It also suggests that sound tuberculosis control strategies(DOTS) should be carried out in Henan.

Key words: Pulmonary tuberculosis/prevention and coutrol, Drug resistance