BACKGROUND Severe malnutrition is a risk factor for pneumonia due to a wide range of pathogens but aetiological data are limited and the role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is uncertain. METHODS We prospectively investigated severely malnourished young children (<5 years) with radiological pneumonia admitted over a 15-month period. Investigations included blood culture, sputa for microscopy an...

BACKGROUND Although the evidence base regarding the use of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) when testing respiratory samples is well established, the evidence base for its diagnostic accuracy for extrapulmonary and sputum-scarce pulmonary TB when testing non-respiratory samples is less clearly defined. METHODS A systematic literature search of 7 electronic ...

Abstract Background The purpose of this study was to examine the value Xpert MTB/RIF assay and detection additional Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) species antigens from intestinal tissue samples in differentiating (ITB) Crohn’s disease (CD). Methods Several clinical specimens obtained by either endoscopic biopsy or surgical excision were used for mycobacteriologic solid cultures,Xper...

BACKGROUND Current tuberculosis diagnostics lack sensitivity, and are expensive. Highly accurate, rapid and cheaper diagnostic tests are required for point of care use in low resource settings with high HIV prevalence. OBJECTIVE To investigate the sensitivity and specificity, and cost of loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay for tuberculosis diagnosis in adults with chronic coug...

Quality control (QC) is an essential component of point-of-care testing programs. In the context of a randomised-controlled trial (TTANGO) using GeneXpert (Xpert) Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (CT/NG) point-of-care testing in remote areas of Australia, we aimed to develop and utilise a stable positive control material. Bacterial cultures of CT and NG were resuspended together ...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis (TB) is difficult to diagnose in children using molecular tests, because children have difficulty providing respiratory samples. Stool could replace sputum for diagnostic TB testing if adequate sample processing techniques were available. METHODS We developed a rapid method to process large volumes of stool for downstream testing by the Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) TB-detecti...

Sputum acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy has suboptimal sensitivity but remains the most commonly used laboratory test to diagnose pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). We prospectively evaluated the small membrane filtration (SMF) method that concentrates AFB in a smaller area to facilitate detection to improve the diagnostic performance of microscopy. We enrolled adults with suspicion of pulmon...

In tuberculosis-endemic settings, patients are often treated empirically, meaning that they are placed on treatment based on clinical symptoms or tests that do not provide a microbiological diagnosis (eg, chest radiography). New tests for tuberculosis, such as the Xpert MTB/RIF assay (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA), are being implemented at substantial cost. To inform policy and rationally drive ...

BACKGROUND Accurate, rapid detection of tuberculosis (TB) and TB drug resistance is critical for improving patient care and decreasing TB transmission. Xpert® MTB/RIF assay is an automated test that can detect both TB and rifampicin resistance, generally within two hours after starting the test, with minimal hands-on technical time. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued initial recommendat...