Oxazolidinones represent a new class of antituberculosis drugs that exert their function by inhibiting protein synthesis. Here, we compared the activities of three oxazolidinones, linezolid, PNU-100480, and AZD5847, against latent tuberculosis using a simple model employing the streptomycin-starved Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain 18b. The in vitro drug susceptibility results showed that the t...

BACKGROUND Increased serum levels of angiotensin converting enzyme and lysozyme are considered as inflammatory markers for diagnosis of sarcoidosis which is an autoimmune inflammatory disease. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the significance of differences in serum angiotensin converting enzyme and lysozyme levels of patients with ocular involvement of other autoimmune inflammatory and...

BACKGROUND Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM) is known to be a major risk factor for the development of active tuberculosis, although its influence on latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (hereafter, "latent infection") remains poorly characterized. METHODS We examined circulating plasma cytokine levels in individuals with latent infection with DM or pre-DM (ie, intermediate hyperglycemia) ...

It is estimated that one-third of the world's population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Infection typically remains latent, but it can reactivate to cause clinical disease. The only vaccine, Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is largely ineffective, and ways to enhance its efficacy are being developed. Of note, the candidate booster vaccines currently under clinic...

OBJECTIVE To describe the investigation of latent tuberculosis infection and indication for isoniazid preventive therapy in children and adolescents evaluated at the children's hospital. METHODS This retrospective study examines all latent tuberculosis infection subjects with indication for isoniazid preventive therapy attended during 2002-2009 at the pulmonology outpatient clinic from childr...

BACKGROUND The diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection relies on the tuberculin skin test (TST), which has many drawbacks. However, to find out whether new tests are better than TST is difficult because of the lack of a gold standard test for latent infection. We developed and assessed a sensitive enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISPOT) assay to detect T cells specific for Mycobacterium tuberculo...

SETTING The impact of diabetes on tuberculosis in United States and foreign-born populations in San Francisco has not been studied. OBJECTIVE To determine the characteristics, prevalence and temporal trends of diabetes in US and foreign-born persons attending the San Francisco Tuberculosis Clinic. DESIGN We analyzed data from individuals seeking medical attention at the San Francisco Tuberc...

Tuberculosis is a public health problem worldwide, including in the United States-particularly among immunocompromised patients and other high-risk groups. Tuberculosis manifests in active and latent forms. Active disease can occur as primary tuberculosis, developing shortly after infection, or postprimary tuberculosis, developing after a long period of latent infection. Primary tuberculosis oc...

The use of tumor necrosis factor inhibitors for the treatment of patients with psoriasis has been related to a higher incidence of tuberculosis, specially the disseminated and extrapulmonary forms. Despite their efficacy, these drugs increase the risk of reactivating latent tuberculosis infection, thus requiring diagnosis of the condition before their administration. Investigation of latent tub...