02176nas a2200217   4500000000100000008004100001100002100042700001300063700002200076700001400098700001100112700001600123700001700139700001400156700001500170245016000185856005000345300001200395490000600407520154500413       2020                            d1 aN’Golo David C1 aRoger DB1 aKakou-N’Gazoa S1 aKouakou H1 aAby CA1 aAboubacar S1 aPhilippe BAD1 aVagamon B1 aMireille D00aDrugs Susceptibility Testing in Leprosy Patients from Côte d’Ivoire Reveals Multidrugs Resistance Combination Cases to Dapsone, Rifampicin and Ofloxacin  uhttp://pubs.sciepub.com/ajmr/8/4/6/index.html  a160-1630 v83 aLeprosy is a chronic tropical infectious skin disease caused by an obligate intracellular pathogen called
Mycobacterium leprae. Until now no vaccine was available so early diagnosis and treatment were the basic strategy
for leprosy control. The treatment is based on combined drug therapy including Dapsone, Rifampicin, and Ofloxacin
according protocols recommended by the WHO. However, anti-leprosy drugs resistance has been reported in several
leprosy endemic region. The drug susceptibility testing was done by detecting mutation after sequencing of the drug
resistance determining region. Côte d'Ivoire like many African countries has reaching the threshold of elimination of
the disease and the PCT is available nationwide. On the basis of recurrences of therapeutic failures that could be due
to misobservance of patients drug therapy or eventually due to circulating resistant strains, we evaluated the drug
susceptibility in 155 patients from a leprosy care center in Côte d’Ivoire. Patients were previously diagnosed by
clinicians and confirmed by PCR then the genetic drug susceptibility was done by PCR-direct sequencing of the
drug resistance determining region of rifampicin, dapsone and ofloxacin used in the treatment. Our results showed
multiple cases of multiresistance to anti-leprosy drugs in Côte d’Ivoire. This should be an alert for antibiotic
resistance observatories, and policies so that more active surveillance was carried out for the control and surveillance
of M. leprae resistance to drugs.