SETTING Hlabisa health sub-district, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. OBJECTIVE To describe the establishment of a community-based multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) treatment programme embedded in the district TB control programme and to evaluate whether early outcomes are comparable to those in the traditional hospital-based model of care. DESIGN Cases who initiated community-based MDR...

Background: The effectiveness of directly observed therapy (DOT) on TB treatment outcome has been debated and different findings regarding different DOT practices and settings were demonstrated. Methodology: The observational study was conducted in new sputum smear and culture positive pulmonary TB patients at Queen Savang Vadhana Memorial Hospital and Chonburi Hospital, Chonburi province, Thai...

BACKGROUND A previous study showed that combination of zinc and vitamin A reduced sputum conversion time in pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients. OBJECTIVE We studied the efficacy of which single micronutrient contributed more to the sputum conversion time. METHODS In a double-blind randomized community trial, newly sputum smear positive pulmonary TB patients were assigned randomly to recei...

BACKGROUND Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is an important global health problem. Furthermore, the time to identify a positive sputum culture is an important risk factor for the spread of tuberculosis, and several factors can predict a prolonged time to culture conversion. Moreover, the relationship between poor nutritional status and infectious disease is clearly established. Therefo...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary tuberculosis and anemia are both prevalent in Tanzania. There is limited and inconsistent literature on the association between anemia and sputum conversion following tuberculosis treatment. METHODS Newly diagnosed sputum smear positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients aged ≥15 years initiating on standard anti tuberculosis therapy were recruited from 14 of 54 tuberculosis...

SETTING Five districts in Sri Lanka. OBJECTIVES To determine: 1) the proportion of sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) cases who failed to smear convert at 2 months, 2) their management, and 3) whether baseline characteristics and final treatment outcomes were different from those who did smear convert. DESIGN Cross-sectional retrospective review of medical files, tuberculosi...

BACKGROUND Time to detection (TTD) on automated liquid mycobacterial cultures is an emerging biomarker of tuberculosis outcomes. The M. tuberculosis W-Beijing genotype is spreading globally, indicating a selective advantage. There is a paucity of data on the association between baseline TTD and W-Beijing genotype and tuberculosis outcomes. AIM To assess baseline predictors of failure of sputu...

INTRODUCTION Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is an emerging global health risk. We present the first case report of XDR-TB in Singapore. CLINICAL PICTURE A 41-year-old Indonesian lady with previously treated pulmonary tuberculosis presented with chronic cough. Her sputum was strongly acid-fast bacilli positive and grew Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex resistant to first and...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE It has been reported that tobacco smoking slows the sterilisation of sputum culture in pulmonary tuberculosis, but the factors that could delay culture conversion in patients who smoke are not known. Our aim is to identify the factors influencing sputum culture conversion in smokers with pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS Ninety-nine patients with a smoking history and d...