Abstract: Objective  To investigate the prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) in Lianyungang and provide the evidence for strategy development of TB control and prevention.  Methods  Five hundred and twenty-two smear positive pulmonary TB patients registered from January to September 2011 in the counties were consecutively enrolled, among whom 396 new cases and 126 re-treat cases. Solid culture method was used for sputum culture. The proportion method was used to detect the drug susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis).  Results  Out of 479 isolates in the present study, there were 151 (31.5%) strains resistant to any anti-tuberculous drug. The drug resistant rates to any anti-TB drug among new and re-treated cases were 20.9% (76/363) and 64.7% (75/116), respectively, and the difference between the two groups was significant (χ²=77.84, P<0.001). In addition, the drug resistant rates to single drug were similar among new (11.6%，42/363) and re-treated cases (11.2%,13/116) （χ²=0.011，P=1.000）, while there were more strains resistant to two drugs (18.1%, 21/116), three drugs(17.2%, 20/116) and more than three drugs(18.1%, 21/116) in the re-treated group than new group (χ²=28.11，41.61，24.69；all P<0.001).  Conclusion  The epidemic situation of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients with drug resistance is serious, and re-treated patients are the main population with drug resistance.

Key words: Tuberculosis, pulmonary, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Drug resistance, bacterial, Lianyungang city