BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) continues to be a major global health problem. While progress has been made to improve TB cure rates, South Africa's 76 % smear-positive pulmonary TB (PTB) case cure rate remains below the WHO target of 85 %. We report on the trends of TB smear non-conversion and their predictors at the end of an intensive phase of treatment, and how this impacted on treatment outco...

BACKGROUND We aimed to determine the prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) amongst the adult population in 2010-2011 in Pakistan. METHOD A nationwide cross-sectional survey with multistage cluster sampling was conducted among adults (≥15 years) in 95 clusters in 2010-2011. All consenting participants were screened for cough and by chest X-ray. Participants with presumptive TB submitted tw...

BACKGROUND Early detection of tuberculosis (TB) is challenging in resource-poor settings because of limited accessibility to molecular diagnostics. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of the loop-mediated isothermal amplification kit (TB-LAMP) for TB diagnosis compared with conventional and molecular tests. METHODS A total of 290 consecutive sputum samples were collected fro...

Background: Smear negative and culture positive results in pulmonary tuberculosis are not uncommon yet the underlying factors are not well established. Objective: To determine factors associated with smear negative and culture positive results. Methods: Pulmonary tuberculosis patients were consecutively recruited for 12 months from five health facilities in Mwanza region, Tanzania. Sputum exami...

BACKGROUND Although checking specimen quality upon sputum collection for acid-fast smear of suspected tuberculosis (TB) cases is recommended, this procedure is based on expert opinion. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the impact of sputum gross appearance and volume on smear positivity among patients with suspected pulmonary TB, according to sex. METHODS From November 2010 through J...

OBJECTIVE To assess the tuberculosis (TB) situation in the tribal community of Car Nicobar island 15 years after the national TB programme was implemented in this area after an intensive phase of TB control in 1986. METHODS The entire population of Car Nicobar was enumerated through a house-to-house survey. Children aged <14 years were tuberculin tested and read for reaction sizes. Individual...

BACKGROUND Data on the epidemiology of tuberculosis and its treatment outcomes were incomplete in the study area and this study was done to fill this gap. METHODS Institution based cross sectional study was conducted from January 2011 to December 2014. A total of 949 TB patients who were on treatment in North Eastern Ethiopia, Eastern Amhara region were included. Data was analyzed using SPSS ...

OBJECTIVE The HIV epidemic has increased the proportion of patients with smear-negative and extrapulmonary tuberculosis (TB) diagnoses, with related higher rates of poor TB treatment outcomes. Unlike in smear-positive pulmonary TB, no interim markers of TB treatment progress are systematically used to identify individuals most at risk of mortality. The objective of this study was to assess the ...

Objectives: To explore spatial-temporal epidemiological characteristics of tuberculosis in Shandong province, China in 2011 2015, and to provide technical suggestions to improve future control interventions. Methods: Notification Statistics of active TB and smear positive TB in Shandong in 2011 2015 were collected and imported into Geographic Information System (GIS), and global autocorrelation...

BACKGROUND Effective tuberculosis (TB) control in HIV-prevalent settings is hindered by absence of accurate, rapid TB diagnostic tests. We evaluated the accuracy of a urine lipoarabinomannan (LAM) test for TB diagnosis in South Africa. METHODS Hospitalized adults with signs and/or symptoms of active TB were enrolled. Sputum smear microscopy and mycobacterial culture, mycobacterial blood cultu...