Introduction: Tuberculosisis caused by infection with members of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, which is rigorous and contagious disease. Bacterial infection is one of the most essential complications in the patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Aim and Objective: To study the prevalence of multidrug resistant Gram-negative bacteria causing respiratory infections in pulmonary tuberculosis.

Materials and Methods: This Study was carried out at SRM MCH & RC, Tamil Nadu, India, from January 2017 to February 2018 after the Institutional Ethical committee approval. This was a Cross sectional study. The samples are collected under aseptic conditions. Gram negative bacilli isolation done by conventional culture method and antibiotic sensitivity done by disk diffusion method (Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion method).

Result: Out of 73 samples 10 (14.4%) samples were culture positive for gram negative bacilli. The isolates obtained in positive culture are Klebsiella pneumoniae (5) 7.2%, Pseudomonas aeruginosa (3)4.3%, Acinetobacter baumannii (2) =2.8%.

Discussion: Pulmonary tuberculosis is one among the most common infectious diseases affecting humans worldwide. They are important causes of morbidity and mortality for all age groups, and each year approximately 7 million people die as a direct consequence of acute and chronic respiratory infections

Conclusion: In this study the prevalence of MDR-GNB is 14.4%.The predisposing factors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis patients are nutrition deficiency and immune compromised status. Klebsiella pneumoniae followed by Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii were the most common gram-negative bacteria isolated in cultures from lower respiratory tract in pulmonary tuberculosis patients.

Keywords: Multidrug resistance, Gram negative bacteria, Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

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Manonmoney Jayaraman

Department of Microbiology, SRM Medical College Hospital and Research Centre, Kattankulathur, Chennai, Tamilnadu, India