The smear of a clinical specimen provides essential laboratory information that is used to make therapeutic decisions. For this study, smears were made by centrifugation in a Beckman Microfuge 11 (Beckman Instruments, Palo Alto, Calif.) and in parallel by using a Cytospin 2 apparatus (Shandon Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa.). Of 350 consecutive body fluid specimens examined, 50 (14.0%) grew bacteria. Bot...

BACKGROUND Even though commercial nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) have become the most frequently used molecular tests for laboratory diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), published studies report variable estimates of their diagnostic accuracy. We analysed the accuracy of commercial NAATs for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB in smear positive and smear negative respiratory samples us...

Little is known about the drivers of two-month sputum smear non-conversion in the South African context. Our study sought to determine these factors in new sputum smear positive tuberculosis (TB) patients in South Africa's Free State Province. A retrospective record review was conducted for all TB patients on treatment between 2003 and 2009. Two-month sputum smear non-conversion was defined by ...

BACKGROUND Diagnostic options for pulmonary tuberculosis in resource-poor settings are commonly limited to smear microscopy. We investigated whether bleach concentration by sedimentation and sputum cytology analysis (SCA) increased the positivity rate of smear microscopy for smear-positive tuberculosis. METHODS We did a prospective diagnostic study in a Médecins Sans Frontières-supported hosp...

BACKGROUND Light-emitting diode fluorescence microscopy (LED-FM) has been shown to be more sensitive than conventional bright field microscopy using Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain in detecting sputum smear positive tuberculosis in controlled laboratory conditions. In 2012, Auramine O staining based LED-FM replaced conventional ZN microscopy in 200 designated microscopy centres (DMC) of medical colleg...

Results: Smear and culture results were negative in 24 samples, as was the PCR. The 19 samples testing smear positive, as well as the isolated strains, were 100% positive on PCR, with the exception of the 89.4% result from PCR with MPB64 primers. In the 38 smear negative and culture positive samples, PCR results were inconsistent. The primers specific for amplifying the 123 bp IS6110 fragment g...

Early diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) and prompt initiation of treatment are essential for an effective tuberculosis control programme. In many resource limited settings microscopic diagnosis is still the pivotal tool in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB. This study aimed at evaluating laboratory microscopic diagnosis of tuberculosis in a tertiary hospital in Mwanza, Tanzania. This retrospective hos...

Background: Even though commercial nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) have become the most frequently used molecular tests for laboratory diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), published studies report variable estimates of their diagnostic accuracy. We analysed the accuracy of commercial NAATs for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB in smear positive and smear negative respiratory samples u...

SETTING Nairobi City Council Chest Clinic, Nairobi, Kenya. OBJECTIVE To determine if under-reading of sputum smears is a contributing factor in the disproportionate increase in smear-negative tuberculosis in Nairobi, Kenya. METHODOLOGY Between October 1997 and November 1998, patients fulfilling the local programme definition of smear-negative presumed pulmonary tuberculosis were enrolled in...