Fifty smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis patients underwent fibreoptic bronchoscopy. Bronchial aspirate smears of twelve patients and post-bronchoscopic sputum smears of fourteen patients were positive for acid-fast bacilli (AFB). Bronchial biopsy provided the diagnosis in 9 out of 30 patients. Brush smears were positive in 28 patients, being the only positive sample in ten cases. A high yie...

BACKGROUND The objective of this study is to describe the proportion of patients with chronic cough and negative smear microscopy appropriately diagnosed as tuberculosis (TB) and to identify clinical features that could be used in developing a diagnostic scoring system for smear-negative patients. METHODS Records of patients with chronic cough and ≥ 3 negative sputum smears for acid fast baci...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study is to find a relationship between the radiological manifestations of childhood tuberculosis on a high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) and the results of sputum smear. This study aims to propose an alternative indicator of infectivity in terms of prevention of disease transmission through selective isolation policy in children whose clinical condition is hi...

BACKGROUND Rapid and accurate diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) is crucial to facilitate early treatment of infectious cases and thus to reduce its spread. To improve the diagnosis of TB, more rapid diagnostic techniques such as antibody detection methods including enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)-based serological tests and immunochromatographic methods were developed. This study was des...

OBJECTIVES To assess the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF, an automated molecular test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) and resistance to rifampin (RIF), against smear microscopy and culture method for diagnosis of MTB infection. Methods: This is a retrospective analysis of 103 respiratory and 137 non-respiratory patient specimens suspected of tuberculosis at King Khalid University Hospital, Ri...

BACKGROUND The AMPLICOR assay (Roche; Branchburg, NJ), a rapid direct amplification test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, has only been licensed for use in smear-positive respiratory specimens. However, many patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) have smear-negative disease. The clinical utility of this test in patients with smear-negative PTB is unknown. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effect o...

Although it is not rare to find sputum that is positive acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear but subsequent culture fails to isolate mycobacteria in clinical practice, the incidence and clinical implication of those sputa from new patients has not been clearly elucidated. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence and clinical implication of sputum with positive AFB smear but negative in myc...

OBJECTIVE To assess the feasibility of a streamlined strategy for improving tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic evaluation and treatment initiation among patients with presumed TB. DESIGN Single-arm interventional pilot study at five primary care health centers of a streamlined, SIngle-saMPLE (SIMPLE) TB diagnostic evaluation strategy: 1) examination of two smear results from a single spot sputum sp...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the role of routine bronchial washings (BW) culture for diagnostic sputum smear negative pulmonary case of tuberculosis (TB) at Maharat Nahkon Ratchasima Hospital. MATERIAL AND METHOD A retrospective, observational study of performed bronchial washing (BW) specimens from 93 patients who met presumptive criteria of smear negative case of pulmonary TB was done. The culture...

BACKGROUND Each follow-up during the course of tuberculosis treatment currently requires two sputum examinations. However, the incremental yield of the second sputum sample during follow-up of different types of tuberculosis patients has never been determined precisely. OBJECTIVES To assess the incremental yield of the second sputum sample in the follow-up of tuberculosis patients under the R...