WHO Treatment Guidelines for Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, 2016 Update: Applicability in South Korea

In South Korea, the rate of new MDR-TB cases increased from 1.6% in 1994 to 2.7% in 2004, according to the nationwide surveillance of drug resistance 2 , and to 2.9% in 2008, according to data from the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service 3 . In 2016, a total of 852 MDR-TB, and 59 extensively drug-resistant TB cases were notified 4 . Until 2011, the published successful treatment rate of MDR-TB patients in South Korea varied from 37.1% to 66.0% However, the largest retrospective multicenter study (n=1,407 MDR-TB patients) showed a treatment success rate of 45.3% and a default rate of 32.3% 9 . In 2015, two single-institution retrospective cohort studies suggested treatment outcomes were progressively improving, largely owing to the use of later generation fluoroquinolones and linezolid In 2016, a prospective multicenter study reported an 82.1% of treatment success rate in patients with quinolone-susceptible MDR-TB 14 .