BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Sputum acid-fast bacilli (AFB) microscopy services are not available in all health facilities. Alternative procedures are needed to transport sputum samples to the diagnostic centres for detection of AFB. The objective of the present study was to evaluate sputum smears made by pot-method with the direct smears made immediately after sputum collection by Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN...

BACKGROUND Reaching a correct diagnosis is a challenge for physicians treating any of the 30% to 50% of pulmonary tuberculosis patients who have negative sputum cultures or who present with no sputum. Flexible bronchoscopy acquires special importance for these cases for whom empirical anti-tuberculosis therapy is the only option left. In our study we aimed to assess the diagnostic yield of flex...

To evaluate the efficacy of three sputum acid-fast bacillus (AFB) smears to rule out pulmonary tuberculosis, sputum AFB smear and culture results were analyzed at two university-affiliated teaching hospitals. The negative predictive value of the smear increased by only 0.2% on days 2 and 3 each, indicating that in low-prevalence populations, there is limited value in requiring three negative sp...

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Xpert MTB/RIF Assay (Cepheid; Sunnyvale, California) with an expanded intended use that includes testing of either one or two sputum specimens as an alternative to examination of serial acid-fast stained sputum smears to aid in the decision of whether continued airborne infection isolation (AII) is warranted for patients with suspected pulm...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Making centrifuged deposit smears from sputum to detect acid-fast bacilli (AFB) is considered hazardous. We carried out this study to stain the centrifuged deposits with carbol-fuchsin in sputum containers and to decolourize and counterstain their smears made on glass slides. METHODS The centrifuged deposits of 180 sputum samples from pulmonary tuberculosis patients we...

SETTING Nairobi City Council Chest Clinic, Nairobi, Kenya. OBJECTIVE To determine if under-reading of sputum smears is a contributing factor in the disproportionate increase in smear-negative tuberculosis in Nairobi, Kenya. METHODOLOGY Between October 1997 and November 1998, patients fulfilling the local programme definition of smear-negative presumed pulmonary tuberculosis were enrolled in...

background: sputum smear examination is the basis of diagnosis of tuberculosis and quality control for the correct diagno­sis of tuberculosis is necessary. this study was a method survey and performed with 930 smears with the aim to compare the confidence rate of sputum smear examination reported by one laboratory technician with the findings reported by two techni­cians in a tuberculosis scree...

OBJECTIVE To establish the aetiology of chronic cough in HIV-infected patients with negative sputum smears for Acid Fast Bacilli (AFB). DESIGN A cross-sectional descriptive study. SETTING Kenyatta National Hospital, a tertiary referral centre in Kenya SUBJECTS Sixty five HIV-infected adults presenting with chronic cough and negative sputum smears for AFBs. RESULTS Sixty-two patients wer...

The detection of tubercle bacilli in the sputum is regarded by many as of unfavorable prognostic significance, regardless of the number detected and the frequency with which they are found. This study is an attempt to evaluate the prognostic significance of small numbers of tubercle bacilli detected in the sputum by concentration methods. Sputum with modified Gaffky counts of i, ii, or iii were...