Outbreak of Tuberculosis and Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis, Mbuji-Mayi Central Prison, Democratic Republic of the Congo

• Main Authors: Michel Kaswa Kayomo, Epco Hasker, Muriel Aloni, Léontine Nkuku, Marcel Kazadi, Thierry Kabengele, Dorcas Muteteke, François Kapita, Alphonse Lufulwabo, Ya Diul Mukadi, Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, Margareta Ieven, Bouke C. de Jong, Marleen Boelaert
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2018-11-01
• Series: Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: tuberculosis; TB; multidrug-resistant; MDR-TB; incidence; DRC
• Online Access: https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/24/11/18-0769_article
• ISSN: 1080-6040; 1080-6059

After an alert regarding ≈31 tuberculosis (TB) cases, 3 of which were rifampin-resistant TB cases, in Mbuji-Mayi Central Prison, Democratic Republic of the Congo, we conducted an outbreak investigation in January 2015. We analyzed sputum of presumptive TB patients by using the Xpert MTB/RIF assay. We also assessed the Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates’ drug-susceptibility patterns and risk factors for TB infection. Among a prison population of 918 inmates, 29 TB case-patients were already undergoing treatment. We found an additional 475 presumptive TB case-patients and confirmed TB in 170 of them. In March 2015, the prevalence rate of confirmed TB was 21.7% (199/918 inmates). We detected an additional 14 cases of rifampin-resistant TB and initiated treatment in all 14 of these case-patients. Overcrowded living conditions and poor nutrition appeared to be the driving factors behind the high TB incidence in this prison.