New Surveillance Report Available Online

15 April 2006

Volume 32

Number 08

Tuberculosis (TB) - Drug Resistance in Canada, 2004: Canada

Tuberculosis Prevention and Control (TBPC), Public Health Agency of Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian TubercuLosis Laboratory Technical Network and participating laboratories (representing all provinces and territories) in the Canadian Tuberculosis Laboratory Surveillance System (CTBLSS), established a laboratory-based national surveillance system in 1998 to monitor TB drug resistance patterns in Canada. TBPC maintains a computerized database containing drug susceptibility test results of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and MTB complex isolates. Isolates identified as Mycobacterium bovis BCG are included in the CTBLSS but are excluded from this report. M. bovis (BCG) is intrinsically resistant to pyrazinamide and the identify of the majority of isolates of M. bovis (BCG) can be inferred from the history of recent vaccination. The report can be accessed online at: http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/publicat/tbdrc04/ index.html.

Source: Tuberculosis Prevention and Control, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, 23 March 2006.