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Tuberculosis (Edinburgh, Scotland) May 2023Tuberculosis has remained a global concern for public health affecting the lives of people for ages. Approximately 10 million people are affected by the disease and 1.5... (Review)
Review
Tuberculosis has remained a global concern for public health affecting the lives of people for ages. Approximately 10 million people are affected by the disease and 1.5 million succumb to the disease worldwide annually. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the role of early diagnosis to win the battle against such infectious diseases. Thus, advancement in the diagnostic approaches to provide early detection forms the foundation to eradicate and manage contagious diseases like tuberculosis. The conventional diagnostic strategies include microscopic examination, chest X-ray and tuberculin skin test. The limitations associated with sensitivity and specificity of these tests demands for exploring new techniques like probe-based assays, CRISPR-Cas and microRNA detection. The aim of the current review is to envisage the correlation between both the conventional and the newer approaches to enhance the specificity and sensitivity. A significant emphasis has been placed upon nanodiagnostic approaches manipulating quantum dots, magnetic nanoparticles, and biosensors for accurate diagnosis of latent, active and drug-resistant TB. Additionally, we would like to ponder upon a reliable method that is cost-effective, reproducible, require minimal infrastructure and provide point-of-care to the patients.
Topics: Humans; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Pandemics; COVID-19; Tuberculosis; Tuberculin Test
PubMed: 37031646
DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2023.102340 -
Lung India : Official Organ of Indian... 2020The aim of this study is to determine the concordance between QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and tuberculin skin test (TST) in children vaccinated with Bacillus...
OBJECTIVES
The aim of this study is to determine the concordance between QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and tuberculin skin test (TST) in children vaccinated with Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG).
METHODS
This cross-sectional study was done at a pediatric tertiary care center in 33 BCG-vaccinated children aged 6 months-15 years suspected of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection or in contact with a patient with open tuberculosis (TB). All patients were tested for TST with purified protein derivative-S 5 tuberculin units and QFT-GIT assays. Concordance was evaluated between TST and QFT assay by kappa coefficient (k). Agreement between the tests was classified into categories: poor if k < 0.20, fair (k = 0.21-0.40), moderate (k = 0.41-0.60), good (k = 0.61-0.80), and very good (k = 0.81-1.00).
RESULTS
Both the TST and QFT assay were positive in 13 and negative in eight children, respectively, resulting in an agreement of 63% (κ = 0.31). Eight children were <4 years of age of which only one patient had a positive TST and QFT-GIT, and TST and QFT-GIT were negative in two patients resulting in an agreement of 37.5% (κ = 0.063). Among children 4 years of age and older, 12 patients had a positive TST and QFT-GIT and 6 patients had a negative TST and QFT-GIT resulting in an agreement of 72% (κ = 0.41). Among 12 children who had been in contact with an adult having open TB, both the TST and QFT-GIT were positive in 6 patients and negative in two patients, respectively, resulting in an agreement of 66% (κ = 0.41). TST specificity was only 29.6% with a positive predictive value of 42.4% as compared to QFT-GIT. Among children <4 years of age, TST specificity was only 28.6% with a positive predictive rate of 16.7%, and among children >4 years of age, TST specificity was 50% with a positive predictive value of 66.7%. In patients with contact with a patient having TB, TST specificity was 33.3%. Considering TST of 15 mm and above as positive, TST specificity increased to 63.2% and a positive predictive value was 56.3%.
CONCLUSION
The concordance of TST and QFT-GIT is low in children with previous BCG vaccination and especially in children <4 years of age. QFT-GIT may help to rule out false-positive TST.
PubMed: 31898617
DOI: 10.4103/lungindia.lungindia_304_19 -
Clinical Infectious Diseases : An... Nov 2021
Topics: Humans; Latent Tuberculosis; Tuberculin Test; Tuberculosis; United States
PubMed: 32588882
DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciaa850 -
Revista Espanola de Sanidad... 2021Latent TB infection (LTBI) affects 25% of the world's population. As long as this reservoir exists, the elimination of TB will not be feasible. The Assembly of the World... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
Latent TB infection (LTBI) affects 25% of the world's population. As long as this reservoir exists, the elimination of TB will not be feasible. The Assembly of the World Health Organization adopted the "Global End TB" strategy for the elimination of TB in 2014. The objective of this review is to present strategies for risk groups that are candidates for the detection and treatment of LTBI.
MATERIAL AND METHOD
There is sufficient evidence of screening in: immunocompromised people (HIV-infected, biological therapies, alternative renal therapy, organ transplantation), recent immigrants, inmates in prison, people injecting drugs and homeless people, and workers from at-risk settings. Tests to diagnose LTBI include tuberculin skin test (TST) and gamma release assay interferon (IGRA). There is no reference test and the choice of one or the other will depend on logistical considerations, such as avoiding injection (TST) or not needing a second visit (IGRA). Treatment of LTBI is based on the use of isoniazide and rifampicin in short period of 3 or 4 months, using associations of rifampicin and isoniazide or rifampicin alone.
DISCUSSION
Given the estimated high prevalence of LTBI, renewed efforts are required to reduce the number of people with LTBI that includes a registration and monitoring system to observer progress, increased testing, and the use of short treatment guidelines.
Topics: Humans; Interferon-gamma Release Tests; Latent Tuberculosis; Rifampin; Tuberculin Test; Tuberculosis
PubMed: 33847703
DOI: 10.18176/resp.00028 -
Brazilian Journal of Microbiology :... Mar 2022Tuberculosis remains one of the most important infectious diseases with well-known zoonotic nature that affect humans, wildlife, and domestic animals, including goats....
Tuberculosis remains one of the most important infectious diseases with well-known zoonotic nature that affect humans, wildlife, and domestic animals, including goats. Nonetheless, no intradermal tuberculin test has been standardized for caprine diagnosis of tuberculosis. The present study investigated the intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin test (ICCTT) in the diagnosis of tuberculosis among 60 goats from farms with history of tuberculosis. The cutoff applied to goats was based on a study where goats had been experimentally infected with Mycobacterium bovis and Mycobacterium avium. Clinical examination, bacteriological culture, and histopathological staining were assessed to the diagnosis. Isolates compatible with mycobacteria were subjected for molecular diagnosis based on gyrB-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis and PCR restriction-enzyme analysis (PRA) of hsp65 gene by BstEII and HaeIII, namely PRA-hsp65 assay. From all goats, 60% (n = 36/60), 3.3% (n = 2/60), and 36.7% (n = 22/60) showed positive, inconclusive, and negative reactions, respectively. Out of 36 goats with ICCTT positive, 75% (n = 27/36) had isolation of mycobacteria and were detected M. bovis by gyrB-RFLP. Molecular diagnosis and histopathological findings compatible with tuberculosis showed 86.1% (n = 31/36) concordance with the ICCTT. When compared ICCTT with M. bovis isolation, gyrB-RFLP, and histopathology, the better arithmetic means of sensitivity and specificity were 2.5 mm for ICCTT compared with M. bovis isolation and gyrB-RFLP, and 4.55 mm when compared with histopathology. Both receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves presented statistical significance (P < 0.001). The identification of other mycobacteria, e.g., M. kansasii, M. flavescens, M. avium, M. florentinum, M. lentiflavum, M. simiae, and Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis, not influenced positive results in ICCTT. The concordance between bacteriological, histopathological, and molecular identification with ICCTT findings indicate that the tuberculin test may be used as a valuable tool for diagnosis of caprine tuberculosis and reinforce the importance of association of methods to diagnostic of the disease from animal origin.
Topics: Animals; Goats; Mycobacterium bovis; Tuberculin; Tuberculin Test; Tuberculosis
PubMed: 34767242
DOI: 10.1007/s42770-021-00650-9 -
American Journal of Ophthalmology Aug 2021To determine classification criteria for tubercular uveitis. (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
PURPOSE
To determine classification criteria for tubercular uveitis.
DESIGN
Machine learning of cases with tubercular uveitis and 14 other uveitides.
METHODS
Cases of noninfectious posterior uveitis or panuveitis, and of infectious posterior uveitis or panuveitis, were collected in an informatics-designed preliminary database, and a final database was constructed of cases achieving supermajority agreement on the diagnosis, using formal consensus techniques. Cases were analyzed by anatomic class, and each class was split into a training set and a validation set. Machine learning using multinomial logistic regression was used on the training set to determine a parsimonious set of criteria that minimized the misclassification rate among the intermediate uveitides. The resulting criteria were evaluated on the validation sets.
RESULTS
Two hundred seventy-seven cases of tubercular uveitis were evaluated by machine learning against other uveitides. Key criteria for tubercular uveitis were a compatible uveitic syndrome, including (1) anterior uveitis with iris nodules, (2) serpiginous-like tubercular choroiditis, (3) choroidal nodule (tuberculoma), (4) occlusive retinal vasculitis, and (5) in hosts with evidence of active systemic tuberculosis, multifocal choroiditis; and evidence of tuberculosis, including histologically or microbiologically confirmed infection, positive interferon-γ release assay test, or positive tuberculin skin test. The overall accuracy of the diagnosis of tubercular uveitis vs other uveitides in the validation set was 98.2% (95% confidence interval 96.5, 99.1). The misclassification rates for tubercular uveitis were training set, 3.4%; and validation set, 3.6%.
CONCLUSIONS
The criteria for tubercular uveitis had a low misclassification rate and seemed to perform sufficiently well for use in clinical and translational research.
Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Machine Learning; Male; Middle Aged; Retrospective Studies; Tuberculin Test; Tuberculosis, Ocular; Uveitis; Young Adult
PubMed: 33845014
DOI: 10.1016/j.ajo.2021.03.040 -
Pulmonology 2021Screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in close contacts of infectious TB cases might include Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) and Interferon-Gamma Release Assays... (Review)
Review
INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES
Screening for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in close contacts of infectious TB cases might include Tuberculin Skin Test (TST) and Interferon-Gamma Release Assays (IGRA), in combination or as single-tests. In Portugal, the screening strategy changed from TST followed by IGRA to IGRA-only testing in 2016. Our objective was to compare the cost-effectiveness of two-step TST/IGRA with the current IGRA-only screening strategy in immunocompetent individuals exposed to individuals with respiratory TB.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
We reviewed clinical records of individuals exposed to infectious TB cases diagnosed in 2015 and 2016, in two TB outpatient centers in the district of Porto. We estimated medical, non-medical and indirect costs for each screening strategy, taking into account costs of tests and health care personnel, travel distance from place of residence to screening site and employment status. We calculated the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) as the cost difference between the two screening strategies with the difference number of LTBI diagnosis as a measure of cost-effectiveness, assuming that treating LTBI is a cost-effective intervention. We also calculated adjusted odds-ratios to test the association between diagnosis of LTBI and screening strategy and estimated the total cost for averting a potential TB case.
RESULTS
We compared 499 contacts TST/IGRA screened with 547 IGRA-only. IGRA-only strategy yielded a higher screening effectiveness for diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection (aOR 2.12, 95%CI: 1.53 - 2.94). ICER was €106 per LTBI diagnosis, representing increased effectiveness with a slightly increased cost of IGRA-only screening strategy.
CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggests that in Portugal LTBI screening with IGRA-only is more cost-effective than the two-step TST/IGRA testing strategy, preventing a higher number of cases of TB cases.
Topics: Cost-Benefit Analysis; Health Care Costs; Humans; Interferon-gamma Release Tests; Latent Tuberculosis; Mass Screening; Portugal; Tuberculin Test
PubMed: 34053903
DOI: 10.1016/j.pulmoe.2021.04.002 -
Jornal de Pediatria 2020To describe the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in children under 19 years of age in Brazil and to review the latest publications on disease risk, diagnosis,... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVE
To describe the epidemiological situation of tuberculosis in children under 19 years of age in Brazil and to review the latest publications on disease risk, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
SOURCE OF DATA
Notifiable Diseases Information System (2018), World Health Organization estimates, and PubMed articles selected using the descriptor "Tuberculosis," delimited by type of study, period, age, and language.
SYNTHESIS OF DATA
In 2018, in Brazil, 9.4% of notifications were in children under 19 years. The pulmonary form predominated in 80.1% of the cases. The cure rate was 76.8%, lethality was 0.8%, and abandonment was 10.4%. The prevalence of drug-resistant tuberculosis (2011-2016) was 0.5%. It has been found that the risk of disease can reach up to 56% in children under 5 years, influenced by helminth co-infections, malaria, chronic viral infections, live attenuated virus vaccines, and hypovitaminosis D. Exposure to a bacilliferous patient for periods shorter than 30minutes is sufficient for the development of infection and/or disease. In Brazil, microbiological screening is recommended, but the use of the scoring system, modified in 2019, has been maintained. Studies on infection detection have supported the use of the tuberculin skin test. In the treatment, the great advance was the introduction of dispersible formulations, adjustment of the recommended doses, and shortened regimens for latent infection. Several vaccine studies (stages 1-3) are ongoing, but no BCG-licensed substitute has been implemented yet.
CONCLUSIONS
There has been progress in treatment, but major challenges need to be overcome to improve diagnosis, monitoring, and outcome of cases, aiming to eliminate tuberculosis.
Topics: Adolescent; Brazil; Child; Child, Preschool; Humans; Mass Screening; Prevalence; Tuberculin Test; Tuberculosis; World Health Organization
PubMed: 31862302
DOI: 10.1016/j.jped.2019.11.002 -
Journal of Clinical Tuberculosis and... Dec 2023Close contacts infected with are at high risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease and a priority for preventive treatment. Three tests measure infection: two interferon-gamma...
BACKGROUND
Close contacts infected with are at high risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease and a priority for preventive treatment. Three tests measure infection: two interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) and the tuberculin skin test (TST). The objective of our study was to assess the association of positive test results in contacts with infectiousness of the presumed TB source case.
METHODS
Contacts in a cohort study at 10 United States sites received both IGRAs (QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and T-SPOT. (T-SPOT)) and TST. We defined test conversion as negative for all tests at baseline and positive for at least one on retest. Risk ratios (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) assessed association of positive test results with increased infectiousness of the TB case-defined as acid-fast bacilli (AFB) on sputum microscopy or cavities on chest radiographs- and contact demographics.
RESULTS
Adjusted for contacts' age, nativity, sex, and race, IGRAs (QFT-GIT RR = 6.1, 95% CI 1.7-22.2; T-SPOT RR = 9.4, 95% CI 1.1-79.1), but not TST (RR = 1.7, 95% CI 0.8-3.7), were more likely to convert among contacts exposed to persons with cavitary TB disease.
CONCLUSIONS
Because IGRA conversions in contacts are associated with infectiousness of the TB case, their use may improve efficiency of health department contact investigations by focusing efforts on those likely to benefit from preventive treatment in the United States.
PubMed: 37426113
DOI: 10.1016/j.jctube.2023.100386 -
Journal of Medicine and Life Aug 2022Tuberculosis of the eye represents a challenge throughout the world, and there is a continuous debate about its pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. The present...
Tuberculosis of the eye represents a challenge throughout the world, and there is a continuous debate about its pathophysiology, diagnosis, and treatment. The present research represents an interventional prospective study focusing on the variable clinical presentations, and the diagnostic and therapeutic characteristics of ocular tuberculosis. Fifteen eyes from nine cases were diagnosed with ocular tuberculosis, treated, and followed up between 2010 and 2020. The diagnosis was based on (1) a compatible clinical picture, (2) highly positive Tuberculin skin test or a positive IGRA test (Interferon-Gamma Release Assays), (3) a dramatic response to anti-tuberculous drugs without systemic steroid. Mean age was 41.22±13.64 years; eight cases were females 89.8%, one male 11.1%. Only one case had preexisting pulmonary tuberculosis. Bilateral ocular involvement occurred in two thirds of cases (66.7%). The most common clinical presentation was intermediate uveitis (33.3%), followed by multifocal choroiditis (20%). All cases were cured without relapse for the 2-10 years of follow-up, after taking oral anti-tuberculous drugs for 6-12 months. No systemic steroids were given, only topical steroid drops, as indicated. In conclusion, ocular tuberculosis is a mysterious condition with a wide-range of clinical presentations and should be considered in the differential diagnoses of any type of intraocular inflammation, or any unexplained reduction in vision. Oral anti-tuberculous drugs with or without topical steroids are sufficient to improve vision, produce, cure, and prevent relapse.
Topics: Adult; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Prospective Studies; Recurrence; Tuberculin Test; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis, Ocular
PubMed: 36188648
DOI: 10.25122/jml-2021-0343