Impact of GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay on triage of respiratory isolation rooms for inpatients with presumed tuberculosis: a hypothetical trial.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Placing inpatients with presumed active pulmonary tuberculosis in respiratory isolation pending results of serial sputum acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smear microscopy is standard practice in high-income countries. However, this diagnostic strategy is slow and yields few tuberculosis diagnoses. We sought to determine if replacing microscopy with the GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) nucleic acid amplification assay could reduce testing time and usage of isolation rooms.

Methods

We prospectively followed inpatients at San Francisco General Hospital undergoing tuberculosis evaluation. We performed smear microscopy and Xpert testing on concentrated sputum, and calculated diagnostic accuracy for both strategies in reference to serial sputum mycobacterial culture. We measured turnar

SUBMITTER: Chaisson LH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4296131 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature