Performance of Tongue Swabs for Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Hospitalized Children Under 5 Years of Age.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis remains difficult in children under 5 years of age (under-5s), who have high TB morbidity and mortality rates. In a high-burden TB setting, we investigated the diagnostic characteristics of Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra testing of tongue swabs (TS-XU) collected from under-5s.

Methods

In a masked, prospective, observational study, tongue swabs were collected from enrolled hospitalized under-5s deemed high risk for TB disease who were categorized into 1 of the following: confirmed, unconfirmed, or unlikely TB.

Results

Of 201 enrolled under-5s, 11 (5.5%) had confirmed TB, 53 (26.4%) unconfirmed TB, and 137 (68.2%) unlikely TB. TS-XU testing reported "Mtb detected" in 116 (57.7%) of 201 under-5s: positive results were "trace" (90/116, 7

SUBMITTER: Lala SG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12396590 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature