OBJECTIVES To evaluate the accuracy of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold assay (QFT-IT) in children with suspected active or latent TB infection (LTBI). METHODS A retrospective study was conducted on 621 children (0-14 years old) evaluated for TB infection or disease. Following clinical assessment, children were tested with the QFT-IT assay. RESULTS Among the 140 active TB suspects, we identified 19 ...

4,444 new cases of tuberculosis (TB) were reported in Germany in 2009; of those, the proportion of multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB cases increased to 2.1% (63 cases). On the basis of the therapy guidelines of the German Central Committee against Tuberculosis and the new World Health Organization guidelines, this study estimates the mean direct outpatient and combined in- and outpatient costs of TB...

BACKGROUND Malnutrition is a major risk factor for the development of tuberculosis (TB). In India, Melghat is among the tribal regions which consist of highest number of malnutrition cases. Because of the paucity of TB data from these malnourished areas there is an urgent need for the development and evaluation of improved TB diagnostic tests. In the present study, three in house developed diag...

Early detection of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is of primary importance for both patient management and infection control. Optimal methods for identifying drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a timely and affordable way in resource-limited settings are not yet available. This study prospectively evaluated a low-technology but rapid drug susceptibility testing...

We studied eight patients with miliary tuberculosis (TB). In all instances, tuberculomatous lesions were demonstrated in the aspirated bone marrow. We conclude that the bone marrow aspiration has great value in diagnosing miliary TB because it provides sufficient material to permit examination of serial sections as needed to confirm the diagnosis. The bone marrow aspiration also is safer than t...

BACKGROUND Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients are at increased risk of developing tuberculosis (TB), particularly extrapulmonary TB (ExP-TB). AIM The present study was undertaken to investigate whether SLE patients showed increased susceptibility to develop osteoarticular TB (OA-TB). DESIGN AND METHODS We retrospectively reviewed and compared the frequency of ExP-TB, in particular ...

CASE REPORT A young healthy patient, health-care worker in a state hospital, presented in the eye department complaining of pain and blurred vision in the left eye for approx. 2 weeks. Examination revealed a VA of 12/20 in the left eye, an interstitial keratitis, some signs of vitreal inflammation and two chorioretinal mass lesions (at echography appearing cystic) in the affected eye. She also ...

BACKGROUND Effective treatment for drug-susceptible tuberculosis (TB) rapidly renders patients non-infectious, long before conversion of sputum acid-fast smear or culture to negative. Multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients on treatment are currently assumed to remain infectious for months. While the resources required for prolonged hospitalization are a barrier to the scale-up of MDR-TB treat...