background cavitary pulmonary tuberculosis (tb) is rare in children. objectives the aim of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of cavitary pulmonary tb in children. patients and methods this retrospective study was conducted on 97 children less than 15 years old with pulmonary tb to assess the clinical characteristics and radiographic findings of patients with cavitary lesions. resul...

BACKGROUND Although checking specimen quality upon sputum collection for acid-fast smear of suspected tuberculosis (TB) cases is recommended, this procedure is based on expert opinion. The purpose of this study was to elucidate the impact of sputum gross appearance and volume on smear positivity among patients with suspected pulmonary TB, according to sex. METHODS From November 2010 through J...

Background: There are data about the relationship between morphologic findings on HRCT and the number of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) on sputum smears in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB). It was also shown that existence of cavities and airspace consolidation might be related to smear positivity in PTB patients. However there is no study suggesting a relationship between AFB on sputum smea...

OBJECTIVE To determine the efficiency of routine tuberculosis (TB) case detection by examining sputum smear positivity for acid-fast bacilli in relation to duration of cough, characteristics of TB suspects examined and health service factors. METHOD We combined patient interviews with routine data from laboratory registers in 6 health care facilities in San Juan de Lurigancho district, Lima, ...

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...

OBJECTIVE To compare the diagnostic yield of AFB positivity with sputum induction to spontaneous sputum examination in suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. STUDY DESIGN Comparative study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Military Hospital, Rawalpindi, from January to December 2006. METHODOLOGY Sputum specimens were collected by both techniques from 164 patients with clinical and radiolog...

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 Sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) patients have a high risk of transmission and are of great epidemiological and infection control significance. Little is known about the smear-positive populations in high TB burden regions, such as Kazakhstan. The objective of this study is to characterize the smear-positive population in Kazakhstan and identify associated modifiable risk fact...

A retrospective observational study was performed to determine the sensitivity and limitation of PCR test for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. avium complex. We obtained clinical specimens collected from the respiratory tract, cultured M. tuberculosis or M. avium complex, and performed PCR analysis. A total of 299 samples (M. tuberculosis, 177; M. avium, 35; M. intracellulare,...