The performance of the BDProbeTec ET system (BD Biosciences, Sparks, Md.) for direct detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) in respiratory specimens was evaluated by comparing results to those of conventional mycobacterial culture performed with the BACTEC 460 TB system and Middlebrook 7H11 biplates. Patients known to have been on antituberculous therapy were excluded from the a...

OBJECTIVE To determine the frequency of single scanty or positive sputum smear results and its impact on the surveillance definition of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB). SETTING Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. METHODS A representative sample of laboratories was selected in each country. Data were double-entered and discordances resolved by rechecking the register. RESULTS T...

Radiometric methods for M. tuberculosis drug susceptibility testing yield much faster results than standard techniques; however, these methods require sophisticated equipment and are expensive. We investigated a rapid drug susceptibility testing method for isoniazid, rifampin, ethambutol, streptomycin and pyrazinamide in specimens from 197 patients with pulmonary tuberculosis using a simplified...

PURPOSE To obtain reliable estimates of the sensitivity and specificity of the cervical Papanicolaou (Pap) smear and wet mount to diagnose vaginal trichomoniasis. METHODS Articles indexed in MEDLINE (1976-1998) about diagnostic tests for trichomoniasis and their listed references were retrieved. Thirty studies (9,501 patients) that used trichomonas culture as a gold standard were selected. St...

Limited performance data from line probe assays (LPAs), nucleic acid tests used for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), nontuberculosis mycobacteria (NTM), and Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance are available for HIV-infected individuals, in whom paucibacillary TB is common. In this study, the strategy of testing sputum with GenoType MTBDRplus (MTBDR-Plus) and GenoType Direct LPA ...

BACKGROUND In limited resource settings, sputum smear conversion at the end of the intensive phase of tuberculosis treatment is an indicator not only of patients' response to treatment, but also of anti-tuberculosis program performance. The objective of this study was to identify factors associated to sputum smear non-conversion at the end of the intensive phase of treatment, and the effect of ...

The Air Thermal Cycler (ATC) (Idaho Technology, Idaho Falls, Idaho) utilizes the unique technology of small-volume glass capillary tubes and high-velocity air for the heating and cooling medium for the PCR. Standard heat block thermal cycler (HBTC) and ATC performance characteristics were compared for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Sensitivity was 100% for all smear-positive, M. t...

INTRODUCTION To understand better the risk of tuberculosis transmission with increasing delay in tuberculosis treatment, we undertook a retrospective cohort study in Shenzhen, China. METHODS All pulmonary tuberculosis cases in the Shenzhen tuberculosis surveillance database from 1993-2010 were included. Sputum smear positivity and presence of pulmonary cavity were used as proxies for risk of ...

The rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases that represent a public health problem, like tuberculosis, is a challenging problem. The sensitivity of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) makes it a potential diagnostic test for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) in samples with low bacillary load. A cross sectional study was carried out to determine the efficiency of PCR as compared to oth...