Guidelines for surveillance of drug resistance in tuberculosis

Mechanisms for carrying out surveillance vary from country to country, but these guidelines promote certain standardized criteria for surveillance within the Global Project to ensure that results are comparable between participating countries, as well as within countries over time. This fourth edition of the guidelines is an updated version of earlier editions published in 1994, 1997 and 2003. The target audience is the NTP, and in particular a coordination team for surveillance composed of the NTP manager, laboratory specialist, logistics specialist, epidemiologist, and statistician. The document is divided into two parts. Part I describes the principles of the Global Project on Anti-Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Surveillance that should be considered fundamental to both surveillance systems and periodic surveys. Part II describes the steps needed to plan and implement a survey, as well as manage and interpret the collected data. (Author abstract, modified)