Identification of Rifabutin resistant in the M. Tuberculosis strains with Rifampisin resisant

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, separated from other bacteria by reason of its slow reproduction rate and its cell wall contains high rate of lipid, is an important pathogen. Its natural resistance is higher than the other bacteria. In recent years, the drug resistance has been posing a problem in clinic applicaitons is associated with mutations emerging in gene allels encoding target regions.The purpose of this study is to investigate the in vitro effectiveness of Rifabutin against to Rifampisin resistant M. tuberculosis by means of agar proportion method.Totally 21 M. tuberculosis strains, 20 strains are known to be resistant to Rifampisin and 1 standard M.tuberculosis strain, stocked at the Mycobacteriology Laboratory of the Department of Medical Microbiology of the Faculty of Medicine, Mersin University, were used in this study. It was observed that 11 (52%) strains studied are sensitive to Rifabutin when only sensitivities of them were examined without considering their MIK values. It was also observed that 9 (%43) strains of all strains studied are sensitive to Rifabutin in only 0.5 µg/ml drug consantration. However, the small number of strains used in this study and the lack of information related to their molecular infrastructure was evaluated as a constraint in determining Rifabutin effectiveness and it was concluded that the matter would be able to be illuminated with comprehensive studies.