SETTING Large urban tuberculosis control program. OBJECTIVE To evaluate results of procedures implemented for systematic investigation of tuberculosis exposures in congregate settings. DESIGN Between October 1995 and December 2000, a unit consisting of epidemiologists, health educators and tuberculin screening staff investigated exposures in sites with >15 persons. Transmission at the site ...

Introduction: Mycobacterium Nebraskense is a rare nontuberculous mycobacterial infection. The first isolate of the species was from human sputum at University of Nebraska Medical Center. There are only a few cases have been reported and the exact behavior of the disease is not clearly described. Here, we present a case from New York City incidentally found to have a cavitary lung lesion due to ...

BACKGROUND Melioidosis, an infection caused by the gram-negative bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei, is an important cause of pneumonia, skin infection, sepsis, and death in Southeast Asia and Australia, but is exceedingly rare in North America. Pulmonary melioidosis typically presents as acute bacterial pneumonia or cavitary lung lesions resembling tuberculosis. CASE REPORT We report melioi...

Surgery for drug-resistant tuberculosis has been shown to be safe and effective, with similar level of mortalities associated with surgical intervention observed with that for lung cancer. While surgery has been an option to treat TB in the pre-antibiotic era, it is now increasingly used to treat complications of pulmonary TB, particularly in patients with drug-resistant TB who do not respond t...

OBJECTIVE To determine the diagnostic usefulness of tuberculosis (TB) symptom screening to detect active pulmonary TB among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected pregnant women in two PMTCT (prevention of mother-to-child transmission) clinics in western Kenya that are supported by the United States Agency for International Development-Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare partners...

A case of acute cavitary histoplasmosis in the upper lobes is documented. The relationship of this entity to chronic cavitary histoplasmosis is discussed.

BACKGROUND Pulmonary tuberculosis, the most common clinical form of mycobacterial diseases, is a granulomatous disease of the lungs caused by Mycobaterium tuberculosis. A number of genes have been identified in studies of diverse origins to be important in tuberculosis. Of these, both tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and lymphotoxin alpha (LT-alpha) play important immunoregulatory roles....

Objectives. To evaluate tomographic changes in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), degree of agreement among three radiologists regarding tomographic diagnoses, and sequelae following treatment. Methods. Cross-sectional and descriptive study of 74 TB patients confirmed by sputum culture and chest computed tomography before (CT1) and 6 months after (CT2) drug therapy. Results were performed by three ra...

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...