The prevalence of primary antituberculosis drug resistance in Gujarat, as studied between 1983 and 1986, was found to be significantly high, especially for isoniazid (13.9%) and streptomycin (7.4%). Primary rifampicin and pyrazinamide resistance were not detected in any strain. The prevalence of rifampicin resistance among treatment failure and relapse cases of pulmonary tuberculosis increased significantly from 2.8% in 1980 to 37.3% in 1986. In about 95% of the rifampicin resistant strains there was also resistance to isoniazid or streptomycin or both: resistance to isoniazid was detected in more than 90%.