Tuberculosis

The effect of tuberculosis and antiretroviral treatment on CD4+ cell count response in HIV-positive tuberculosis patients in Mozambique

BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) presents a serious problem in Mozambique. HIV prevalence among TB patients is estimated at 47%. A delay in having their first CD4+ cell count could lead to a missed opportunity for ART initiation due to a CD4+ cell …

Contact tracing in low-incidence tuberculosis settings

Coverage and yield of tuberculosis contact investigations in the Netherlands

SETTING: An increasing proportion of tuberculosis (TB) patients in low-incidence countries are immigrants. It is unclear whether contact investigations among immigrant patients are adequate. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether ethnicity of pulmonary TB …

Incidence and Predictors of Mortality and the Effect of Tuberculosis Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in a Cohort of TB/HIV Patients Commencing Antiretroviral Therapy

BACKGROUND:: Tuberculosis-HIV (TB-HIV) coinfection remains an important cause of mortality in antiretroviral therapy (ART) programs. In a cohort of TB-HIV-coinfected patients starting ART, we examined the incidence and predictors of early mortality. …

Evaluation of the Genotype® MTBDRplus assay as a tool for drug resistance surveys

SETTING A national tuberculosis (TB) drug resistance survey in Tanzania. OBJECTIVE To compare the performance of the Genotype® MTBDRplus line-probe assay (LPA) on smear-positive sputum specimens with conventional culture and isoniazid (INH) plus …

Evaluation of the Genotype® MTBDRplus assay as a tool for drug resistance surveys

SETTING A national tuberculosis (TB) drug resistance survey in Tanzania. OBJECTIVE To compare the performance of the Genotype® MTBDRplus line-probe assay (LPA) on smear-positive sputum specimens with conventional culture and isoniazid (INH) plus …

Health-seeking norms for tuberculosis symptoms in southern Angola: implications for behaviour change communications

SETTING A passive case-finding strategy as present in the DOTS strategy presupposes a patient's willingness to seek care. This requires awareness of tuberculosis (TB) symptoms and the diagnostic process, and positive attitudes towards access and …

Measuring socio-economic data in tuberculosis prevalence surveys

Addressing social determinants in the field of tuberculosis (TB) has received great attention in the past years, mainly due to the fact that worldwide TB incidence has not declined as much as expected, despite highly curative control strategies. One …

Guidelines for conducting tuberculin skin test surveys in high-prevalence countries

This Supplement provides an update on guidelines first published in 1996 on conducting a tuberculin skin test survey and analyzing the resulting data. The updated guidelines add experiences gained from community surveys, revisit the proposed sampling …

National anti-tuberculosis drug resistance study in Tanzania

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in a national representative sample of tuberculosis (TB) patients in Tanzania according to recommended methodology. DESIGN: Cluster survey, with 40 clusters sampled proportional …