The international journal of tuberculosis and lung disease : the official journal of the International Union against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Jan 2011
Comparative StudyPerformance comparison of four methods for detecting multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains.
National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, Kuwait. ⋯ Although gMTBDR(+) accurately detected ∼ 88% of MDR-TB strains, some rpoB mutations were either missed or were outside the region of analysis of the gMTBDR(+) assay.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Jan 2011
Drug susceptibility testing proficiency in the network of supranational tuberculosis reference laboratories.
The network of supranational tuberculosis reference laboratories (SRLs). ⋯ The rounds succeeded in comparing the proficiency of laboratories, and should be further promoted for DST quality assessment. However, to function with greater precision and to ultimately improve the clinical relevance of DST, the INH and RMP judicial result gold standard also needs to take into account genotypic and treatment outcome information.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Dec 2010
Pediatric tuberculosis immigration screening in high-immigration, low-incidence countries.
Tuberculosis (TB) screening in migrant children, including immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers, is an ongoing challenge in low TB incidence countries. Many children from high TB incidence countries harbor latent TB infection (LTBI), and some have active TB disease at the point of immigration into host nations. Young children who harbor LTBI have a high risk of progression to TB disease and are at a higher risk than adults of developing disseminated severe forms of TB with significant morbidity and mortality. Many countries have developed immigration TB screening programs to suit the needs of adults, but have not focused much attention on migrant children. ⋯ No two countries had the same approach to TB screening among migrant children. The optimal evidenced-based manner in which to screen migrant children requires further research.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Nov 2010
Oxygen is an essential medicine: a call for international action.
Hypoxaemia is commonly associated with mortality in developing countries, yet feasible and cost-effective ways to address hypoxaemia receive little or no attention in current global health strategies. Oxygen treatment has been used in medicine for almost 100 years, but in developing countries most seriously ill newborns, children and adults do not have access to oxygen or the simple test that can detect hypoxaemia. Improving access to oxygen and pulse oximetry has demonstrated a reduction in mortality from childhood pneumonia by up to 35% in high-burden child pneumonia settings. ⋯ Oxygen concentrators are sustainable in developing country settings if a systematic approach involving nurses, doctors, technicians and administrators is adopted. Improving oxygen systems is an entry point for improving the quality of care. For these broad reasons, and for its vital importance in reducing deaths due to lung disease in 2010: Year of the Lung, oxygen deserves a higher priority on the global health agenda.
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Int. J. Tuberc. Lung Dis. · Nov 2010
Concomitant increases in spectrum and level of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates.
To determine the drug resistance spectrum and resistance levels of extensively drug-resistant (XDR-) and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and TB resistant to either rifampicin (RMP, R) or isoniazid (INH, H; R/H-DR). ⋯ XDR-TB, MDR-TB and R/H-DR TB isolates exhibited both increasingly broader resistance spectra and a higher percentage of strains with high MICs to more frequently resistant drugs, which might be related to patterns of TB chemotherapy.