[Determining drug resistance of the clinical strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to pyrazinamide].

Description of the pyrazinamide-resistant clinical strains of M. tuberculosis derived from sputum of patients treated in TB clinics in Tula was made (June, 2001 - July, 2002). It was demonstrated that 30.3% (n = 91) strains were resistant to pyrazinamide. It was found out that these strains were resistant to other antituberculosis drugs in most cases. The method of PCR-sequencing was used to find the mutations in the gene pncA determining resistance to pyrazinamide. 44 different types of mutations localized in 28 codons were detected. The predominance of the mutations in 57 (13.2%), 63 (7.7%), 97 (7.7%), 12 (6.6%), 103 (6.6%) codons and in -11 (6.6%) promoter ofp ncA was observed in the pyrazinamide-resistant strains. Several new mutations determining resistance of the clinical strains of M. tuberculosis to pyrazinamide were described. A high correlation between resistance of mycobacteria to pyrazinamide and activity of pyrazinamidase was observed.