Biomarkers for active tuberculosis (TB) are urgently needed. Mycobacteria produce membrane vesicles (MVs) that contain concentrated immune-modulatory factors that are released into the host. We evaluated the human immune responses to BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis MVs to characterize the antibody responses and identify potentially novel TB biomarkers. Serological responses to MVs were evalu...

Article Information Epidemiological study for Tuberculosis (TB) has been conducted in developed and developing countries to accesses the burden of the disease in their countries. However, this study was lacking in Nekemte and its surroundings, western Ethiopia. Therefore, present study was designed for cross-sectional study to generate preliminary epidemiological information on TB in Nekemte an...

No tool exists to identify potential under-diagnosis of smear-negative and extrapulmonary TB. In an ecological study, we used a simple tool plotting percentages of smear-positive pulmonary TB amongst newly diagnosed TB in African region countries and provinces in Mozambique against the country’s and provinces’ HIV prevalence. We visually inspected the plots to determine potential under-diagnosi...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) case detection rate remains low in Ethiopia. One of the underlying reasons is the emphasis on passive case finding strategy which may seriously underestimate the burden of the disease. Estimating the prevalence of smear-positive pulmonary TB through active case finding at population level can help assessing the degree to which passive case detection is successful. ...

We hypothesized that rapid presentation may be a general feature of tuberculosis (TB) associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that limits the impact of HIV on the point prevalence of TB. To investigate this, we performed a cross-sectional HIV and TB disease survey with retrospective and prospective follow-up. HIV prevalence among 1,773 systematically recruited miners was 27%. TB inci...

BACKGROUND The Xpert™ MTB/RIF (XP) has a higher sensitivity than sputum smear microscopy (70% versus 35%) for TB diagnosis and has been endorsed by the WHO for TB high burden countries to increase case finding among HIV co-infected presumptive TB patients. Its impact on the diagnosis of smear-negative TB in a routine care setting is unclear. We determined the change in diagnosis, treatment and ...

UNLABELLED Despite the South African antiretroviral therapy rollout, which should reduce the incidence of HIV-associated tuberculosis (TB), the number of TB-attributable deaths in KwaZuluNatal (KZN) remains high. TB is often diagnosed clinically, without microbiologic confirmation, leading to inaccurate estimates of TB-attributed deaths. This may contribute to avoidable deaths, and impact popul...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the world's deadliest communicable diseases. In Ethiopia, tuberculosis patients have different pattern of health care seeking behavior. They usually adopt other approaches like traditional healers and spiritual holy water sites before consulting public health facilities. This study was aimed to assess the prevalence of smear positive pulmonary tubercu...

Background and Objectives: A great number of tuberculosis (TB) patients present to the private sector to receive care; therefore, integrating TB control programs into private sector activities can enhance the control of TB. The Public-Private Mix (PPM) program is suggested by the World Health Organization to engage the private sector in TB control programs. In this study, a plan designed for PP...

SETTING Kazakhstan is a country with a low HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune-deficiency syndrome) burden, but a high prevalence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). METHODS We describe the epidemiology of multidrug resistance and HIV among TB patients, using the 2007-2011 national electronic TB register. RESULTS HIV test results were available for 97.2% of TB p...