Ethiopia adopted Public-Private Mix Directly Observed Treatment Short Course Chemotherapy (PPM-DOTS) strategy for tuberculosis (TB) control program. Quality of sputum smear microscopy has paramount importance for tuberculosis control program in resource-poor countries like Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the quality of sputum smear microscopy in 37 Public-Private Mix l...

BACKGROUND Previous studies suggest that bronchoscopy and a single induced sputum sample are equally effective for diagnosing pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS In a prospective study of subjects with possibly active pulmonary tuberculosis, the diagnostic yield of three induced sputum tests was compared with that of bronchoscopy. Subjects either produced no sputum or (acid fast) smear negative s...

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...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the sensitivity of acid-fast sputum smears in the diagnosis of pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). DESIGN Retrospective chart and radiographic film review. SETTING Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in New York City. PATIENTS All patients with positive sputum cultures for MTB during 1989 to 1991, including 100 with HIV, and 76 without HIV infection...

PURPOSE To evaluate the utility of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for diagnosing osteoarticular tuberculosis (TB). METHODS Clinical samples (synovial tissue and synovial fluid) obtained from 23 cases of suspected osteoarticular tuberculosis were subjected to Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) smear examination, radiometric BACTEC culture and PCR test for tuberculosis by amplifying 65 kDa antigen co...

INTRODUCTION The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) aims to achieve detection of 70% of new smear-positive patients in a community and to cure 85% of such patients. Though an elaborate recording and reporting system is in place to monitor the success of the program, no record of patients who do not complete the diagnostic process is currently maintained. The present study, pe...

Highly sensitive and field deployable molecular diagnostic tools are critically needed for detecting submicroscopic, yet transmissible levels of malaria parasites prevalent in malaria endemic countries worldwide. A reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) assay was developed and evaluated in comparison with thick blood smear microscopy, an antigen-based rapid diagn...

Sputum microscopy is the most important tool for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in peripheral laboratories. Sodium hypochlorite concentration technique prior to sputum may improve AFB bacilli over direct Ziehl Neelsen’s staining method. A prospective study was conducted at Kasturba Medical College, Manipal. Consecutive samples were collected 3 months. ZN stained smears made directly fr...

Women in developing countries generally lack access to cervical cancer preventive services. An audit was performed in rural South Africa to test the hypothesis that women do not follow (pre-)cancerous cervical disease treatment sufficiently, to understand the possible reasons for this non-attendance behavior, and to evaluate other published diagnostic and treatment initiatives. Based on Pap sme...

histological diagnosis of leprosy patients attending the hospital who consented to undergo slit skin smear (SSS) examination, punch biopsy and participate in the study. Fifty leprosy patients aged 5 to 70 years, which included 41 male and 9 female patients participated in the study. These included 4 TT, 24 BT, 2 BB, 5 BL and 15 LL clinically diagnosed patients as per the IAL classification (198...