from january 1982 to april 1987 , 1500 cases of fiberoptic bronchoscopy (fob) were performed. among these cases, 37 were suspected of having pulmonary tuberculosis but their sputum examination was either negative or they were not able to expectorate. in all these cases pulmonary tb was confirmed either by bronchoalveolar lavage (bal) fluid examination or by biopsy. we conclude that fob is a val...

INTRODUCTION Reliable smear microscopy is an important component of Directly Observed Treatment Scheme (DOTS) strategy for TB control program in countries with limited resources. Despite external quality assessment is established in Ethiopia, there is lower TB detection rate (48%) in Amhara region compared to the World Health Organization (WHO) estimate (70%). This highlights the quality of sme...

A method is described in which smears on slides, which had been examined previously in a direct fluorescence antibody (DFA) test for Chlamydia trachomatis, were tested by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Twenty four (73%) of 33 smears which contained fewer than 10 elementary bodies when examined by the DFA test were positive by the PCR. Of the nine negative smears, seven contained only one ...

For more than two decades, as the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases overall in the United States has declined, the proportion of cases among foreign-born persons has increased. In 2013, the percentage of TB cases among those born outside the country was 64.6%. To address this trend, CDC has developed strategies to identify and treat TB in U.S.-bound immigrants and refugees overseas. Each year, ...

BACKGROUND Tuberculosis treatment failure and death rates are low in the Western Pacific Region, including Vietnam. However, failure or death may also occur among patients who did not complete treatment, i.e. reported as default or transfer-out. We aimed to assess the proportion failures and deaths among new smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients with reported default or transfer-out. T...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the suitability of the TB-SA antibody test to diagnose tuberculosis in sputum smear negative (SS-) pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients and its applicability for monitoring treatment outcomes in these patients. This study was conducted in three counties/districts in Chongqing Municipality, Liaoning Province, China between June 2005 and June 2007. A ...

STUDY OBJECTIVES (1) To assess the utility of a single sputum specimen in the evaluation of HIV-infected patients who are suspected of having tuberculosis (TB). (2) To identify radiographic findings that discriminate between HIV-infected patients with TB and those with pneumonia of other causes. DESIGN Retrospective cohort analysis. PATIENTS All patients evaluated at Harborview Medical Cent...

Fiberoptic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and transbronchial biopsy (TBB) was performed in 40 patients suspected to have pulmonary tuberculosis, in whom chest roentgenogram revealed minimal infiltration and sputum smears were negative for acid-fast bacilli. Bronchoscopic procedures provided overall diagnostic yields in 47.5% (19/40) of patients. The diagnostic yield of overall b...

CONTEXT Search for a cost-effective, rapid and accurate test has renewed interest in mycobacteriophage as a tool in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB). There has been no reported data on the performance of phage assay in a high burden, low-resource setting like Kanpur city, India. AIMS To assess the sensitivity and specificity of the FASTPlaque TB kit ability to impact the bacillary load in t...