BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis continues to rely on sputum smear microscopy in many settings. We conducted a meta-analysis to estimate the percentage of children and adults with tuberculosis that are sputum smear positive. METHODS We searched PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, and Global Health databases for studies that included both children and adults with all forms of active TB. The pooled ...

OBJECTIVE To determine the efficiency of routine tuberculosis (TB) case detection by examining sputum smear positivity for acid-fast bacilli in relation to duration of cough, characteristics of TB suspects examined and health service factors. METHOD We combined patient interviews with routine data from laboratory registers in 6 health care facilities in San Juan de Lurigancho district, Lima, ...

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality, and Viet Nam ranks 12 among the 22 high-TB burden countries. This study analyses surveillance data of the National Tuberculosis Control Programme in Viet Nam for the six-year period 2007 to 2012. During the study period, 598,877 TB cases (all forms) were notified, and 313,225 (52.3%) were new smear-positive cases. The case noti...

SETTING A tuberculosis (TB) prevalence survey was performed in 2002 in two urban communities in Cape Town, South Africa. The population was 36,334 in 2001, and the TB notification rate was 341 per 100,000 population for new smear-positive TB in 2002. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relative contributions of symptom and chest radiographic (CXR) screening in the detection of subjects with smear- and/...

Rationale. Contact investigation is an established tool for early case detection of tuberculosis (TB). In India, contact investigation is not often conducted, despite national policy, and the yield of contact investigation is not well described. Objective. To determine the yield of evaluating household contacts of sputum smear-positive TB cases in Rajnandgaon district, Chhattisgarh, India. Meth...

OBJECTIVE Patients admitted to the pulmonary isolation service to rule out tuberculosis (TB) were prospectively studied to identify predictors of smear-positive TB. METHODS History of symptoms--cough, sputum production, fever, weight loss, night sweats, hemoptysis, anorexia, and dyspnea; medical history--TB, tuberculin skin test (TST) status, TB contact; and social factors--crowding index, hi...

BACKGROUND Diagnosis of pulmonary (PTB) and extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) in smear-negative patients can be difficult. We assessed retrospectively the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF system (Xpert, Cepheid) in diagnosing smear-negative tuberculosis (TB), which represents the most common form of TB in a low incidence setting. METHODS Performance of Xpert was compared to acid-fast microscopi...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of routine bronchial washings (BW) culture for diagnostic sputum smear negative pulmonary case of tuberculosis (TB) at Maharat Nahkon Ratchasima Hospital. MATERIAL AND METHOD A retrospective, observational study of performed bronchial washing (BW) specimens from 93 patients who met presumptive criteria of smear negative case of pulmonary TB was done. The culture...

INTRODUCTION The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended using a nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) but there is a lack of data on NAAT cost-effectiveness. METHODS We conducted a prospective cohort study that included all patients with an AFB smear-positive respiratory specimen at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, GA, USA bet...

Background : Tuberculosis is known as one of the main causes of mortality worldwide. 1.7 milliard people worldwide are infected with TB germs, there are 8 million new cases of TB annually, and three million deaths occur due to the disease in developing countries. Materials and Methods: This study included all the cases who had referred to all the health centers of Lorestan province with posi...