BACKGROUND Latent Tuberculosis treatment is a key tuberculosis control intervention. Adolescents are a high risk group that is not routinely treated in low income countries. Knowledge of latent Tuberculosis (TB) burden among adolescents may influence policy. OBJECTIVES We determined the prevalence and risk factors of latent TB infection among adolescents in rural Uganda. METHODS We analyzed...

The mechanisms leading to latency and reactivation of human tuberculosis are still unclear, mainly due to the lack of standardized animal models for latent mycobacterial infection. In this longitudinal study of the progression of a mycobacterial disease in adult zebrafish, we show that an experimental intraperitoneal infection with a low dose (≈ 35 bacteria) of Mycobacterium marinum, results in...

Differentiation of active from latent tuberculosis (TB) is a major challenge in the control of TB. In this study, PBMC from latent TB-infected subjects, TB patients, and tuberculin skin test-negative donors stimulated with the Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific Ag, early secretory antigenic target 6, and mRNA for 45 immune-related genes was measured by quantitative real-time PCR. Univari...

Central nervous system tuberculosis remains a clinical diagnostic challenge. The ex vivo Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) is a novel assay for the rapid detection of M. tuberculosis-specific T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. However, when performed on peripheral blood, this assay cannot distinguish between active tuberculosis or latent tuberculos...

Adult tuberculosis (TB) is the main cause of TB epidemic and death. The infection results mainly by endogenous reactivation of latent TB infection and secondarily transmitted by exogenous infection. There is no vaccine for adult TB. To this end, we first chose antigens from a potential antigenic reservoir. The antigens strongly recognized T cells from latent and active TB infections that respon...

Pulmonary tuberculosis is a common disease in Saudi Arabia. As most cases of tuberculosis are due to reactivation of latent infection, identification of individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) who are at increased risk of progression to active disease, is a key element of tuberculosis control programs. Whereas general screening of individuals for LTBI is not cost-effective, target...

BACKGROUND T-cell responses against dormancy-, resuscitation-, and reactivation-associated antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are candidate biomarkers of latent infection in humans. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We established an assay based on two rounds of in vitro restimulation and intracellular cytokine analysis that detects T-cell responses to antigens expressed during latent M. tub...

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...

RATIONALE Understanding mechanisms of resistance to M. tuberculosis (M.tb) infection in humans could identify novel therapeutic strategies as it has for other infectious diseases, such as HIV. OBJECTIVES To compare the early transcriptional response of M.tb-infected monocytes between Ugandan household contacts of tuberculosis patients who demonstrate clinical resistance to M.tb infection (cas...

Latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a subclinical infection with Mycobacteria tuberculosis complex without any clinical, bacteriological or radiological evidence of manifest TB disease.1 LTBI results from contact with an infectious case of TB. It is characterised by the presence of mycobacterial T-cell responses, assessed by either the tuberculin skin test (TST) or more recently, interferon...