Exhaled Mycobacterium tuberculosis output and detection of subclinical disease by face-mask sampling: prospective observational studies.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Tuberculosis remains a global health challenge, with early diagnosis key to its reduction. Face-mask sampling detects exhaled Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We aimed to investigate bacillary output from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and to assess the potential of face-mask sampling as a diagnostic method in active case-finding.

Methods

We did a 24-h longitudinal study in patients from three hospitals in Pretoria, South Africa, with microbiologically confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis. Patients underwent 1 h of face-mask sampling eight times over a 24-h period, with contemporaneous sputum sampling. M tuberculosis was detected by quantitative PCR. We also did an active case-finding pilot study in inhabitants of an informal settlement near Pretoria. We enrolled ind

SUBMITTER: Williams CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7191268 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature