As part of a series of investigations at Baba Baghi Leprosarium in lran, 44 long-treated leprosy patients were selected for our study. Samples of early morning sputum were obtained from each patient, examined by microscopy for acid-fast bacilli (AFB), and cultured for tubercle bacilli. These tests were negative, but the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for an insertion sequence believed to b...

INTRODUCTION High quality sputum helps increase the sensitivity of the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. OBJECTIVES To evaluate the efficiency of the acoustic device (Lung Flute; LF) in sputum induction compared with the conventional method, hypertonic saline inhalation (HSI). METHODS In this crossover study, patients with presumed pulmonary tuberculosis submitted 3 consecutive sputa: th...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study is to assess the value of chest radiographs (CXRs) and sputum examinations in detecting pulmonary involvement of tuberculosis (TB) in patients with extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). MATERIALS AND METHODS A retrospective analysis was performed among 248 EPTB patients with culture-proven diagnosis of tuberculosis seen between January 2001 and December 2007 at...

BACKGROUND Conventional acid-fast bacilli (AFB) staining cannot differentiate viable from dead cells. Propidium monoazide (PMA) is a photoreactive DNA-binding dye that inhibits PCR amplification by DNA modification. We evaluated whether PMA real-time PCR is suitable for the early detection of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) in clinical respiratory specimens. METHODS A total of 15 dilu...

BACKGROUND Accurate identification of lower respiratory tract pathogens is important in the management of cystic fibrosis patients. AIM To evaluate the cough plate as an alternative method of obtaining respiratory samples for microbiological culture. METHODS AND RESULTS Using sputum culture as the "gold standard", the cough plate method identified significantly more positive cases than eith...

BACKGROUND There is limited information on prevalence of pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in patients with type-1-diabetes. We assessed the prevalence of PTB in patients with type-1-diabetes attending the outpatient-clinic in a tertiary-care hospital. METHODS 151 patients with type-1-diabetes were screened for PTB by clinical examination and chest-radiography. Sputum Acid-Fast Bacilli Test (AFB) ...

BACKGROUND The Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) of India recommends follow-up sputum smear examination at two months into the continuation phase of treatment. The main intent of this (mid-CP) follow-up is to detect patients not responding to treatment around two-three months earlier than at the end of the treatment. However, the utility of mid-CP follow-up under programmati...

The evaluation of the quality of a sputum specimen prior to bacterial culture has been an accepted practice. However, optimal sputum criteria for pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) are not well established. We investigated indicators for sputum acceptability in tuberculosis cultures and acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear. A post-hoc analysis of a randomized trial with 228 sputum specimens from 77 patients ...

Sputum smears and culture conversion are frequently used to evaluate treatment response in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Limited data are available on the evaluation of the correlation between under-treatment sputum smear results and culture conversion. This prospective study included sputum culture-proven pulmonary tuberculosis patients at six hospitals in Taiwan. At least two sets of sputu...

Although the Gram stain and culture of expectorated sputum are considered standard methods for the diagnosis of presumptive pneumococcal pneumonia, these methods remain relatively insensitive and nonspecific. We developed an enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for the quantitation of pneumococcal C polysaccharide (PnC) in the sputum of patients with presumptive pneumococcal pneumonia. Of 34 patient sputum...