BACKGROUND Leprosy neuropathy is considered the most common peripheral neuropathy of infectious etiology worldwide, representing a public health problem. Clinical diagnosis of primary neural leprosy (PNL) is challenging, since no skin lesions are found and the slit skin smear bacilloscopy is negative. However, there are still controversial concepts regarding the primary-neural versus pure-neura...

RATIONALE Contamination by bacterial or fungal organisms reduces the effectiveness of mycobacterial culture for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB). We evaluated the effect of an anti-microbial and an anti-fungal oral rinse prior to expectoration on culture-contamination rates. METHODS We enrolled a consecutive random sample of adults with cough for ≥ 2 weeks and suspected TB admitted to...

The aim of this study was to evaluate a nitrate reductase assay (NRA) performed on smear-positive sputa for the direct detection of rifampin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. A total of 213 smear-positive sputa with a positivity score of 1+ or more (>1 acid-fast bacillus per field by fluorescence microscopy) were used in the study. The samples were decontaminated using the modified Petr...

The confirming diagnosis for tuberculosis as recommended by World Health Organization is by detecting the Acid Fast Bacilli bacteriologically in the respiratory specimens. In certain cases, where there is a strong clinical and radiological suspicion for tuberculosis and with repeated sputum samples showing negativity for AFB, bronchoscopic study with bronchial washings for the detection of AFB ...

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...

The aim of this study was to evaluate different methods for Trichomonas vaginalis diagnosis during pregnancy in order to prevent maternal and perinatal complications. A total of 386 vaginal exudates from pregnant women were analyzed. T. vaginalis was investigated by 3 types of microscopic examinations direct wet mount with physiologic saline solution, prolonged May-Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) stainin...

Clinico-bacteriological profile of 73 leprosy patients below 16 years of age was studied. Majority of the patients were males and fell in 11-16 years age group (p < 0.05). Skin lesions were present in all cases on both exposed as well as unexposed areas and their number increased with advancing age. Cutaneous sensations were affected in most of the patients while nerve thickening was observed i...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay for the detection of M. tuberculosis in pulmonary and extrapulmonary specimens and to compare it with conventional techniques. METHODS During a period of 10 months from December 2012 through September 2013, two hundred and forty five clinically TB suspects were enrolled for Xpert MTB\RIF assay. The cohort comprised of 20...

Background: The control of tuberculosis (TB) is founded on early case detection and complete treatment of disease. In the UK, TB is concentrated in subgroups of the population in large urban centres. The impact of homelessness, imprisonment and problem drug use on TB control in London is reviewed. Methods: A cohort study was undertaken of all patients with TB in Greater London to determine the ...

BACKGROUND The control of tuberculosis (TB) is founded on early case detection and complete treatment of disease. In the UK, TB is concentrated in subgroups of the population in large urban centres. The impact of homelessness, imprisonment and problem drug use on TB control in London is reviewed. METHODS A cohort study was undertaken of all patients with TB in Greater London to determine the ...