
Diagnostic Usefulness of Interferon Gamma Release Assay for Active Tuberculosis in Immunocompromised...
TuberculosisFor diagnosis of active tuberculosis, interferon-γ release assay based mycobacterium tuberculosis specific antigen may show higher sensitivity than tuberculin skin test in immunocompromised patients. Therefore, interferon-γ release assay have a role as a rapid diagnostic adjunctive methods for active tuberculosis in immunocompromised patients.

Improving Latent Tuberculosis (TB) Diagnosis in Thai Children
Latent TuberculosisHIV InfectionsThe study is a prospective study to improve the diagnosis and management of latent TB in HIV-infected and HIV uninfected children in Thailand. The objectives are to assess the sensitivity and specificity of IGRAs (T-Spot®.TB, a T-cell-based assay, and QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-tube, a whole blood assay), TST, and a refined symptom-based questionnaire in diagnosing latent TB in 166 HIV-infected and HIV uninfected children in Thailand, and to evaluate the influence of age, nutritional and immune status on children's response to the IGRAs. These children will be screened for TB with a detailed TB contact history, symptom-based questionnaire, physical examination, TST, chest radiograph (and abdominal ultrasound for those with abdominal symptoms), IGRAs, and clinical specimens for acid fast bacilli stain and culture. A diagnostic algorithm will be generated using the combination of test modalities with the highest sensitivity and specificity results.

A Cluster-Randomized Trial of DOTS vs DOTS Plus Active Case Finding
Mycobacterium TuberculosisThe purpose of the study is to see if one plan for identifying and treating tuberculosis (TB) works better than another in reducing new cases of TB. The first plan is the DOTS program, which provides free TB treatment to people seeking it. The second plan provides free TB treatment to people seeking it and involves program staff going door-to-door in communities to identify new cases of TB, DOTS plus active case-finding program (ACF). Researchers believe that by detecting TB cases earlier and supervising treatment it will help to prevent spreading and decrease TB in these areas. The study population will be 200,000 people in 6 communities of Santa Cruz and 14 communities of Northeast Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, receiving DOTS or DOTS plus ACF. Individuals in the DOTS plus ACF part of the study will be interviewed 2-4 times during a 9 month period. Patients with symptoms will provide a sputum specimen. Patients identified as having TB will begin treatment and be observed for 6.

Bioaerosol Sampling in Suspected Pulmonary Tuberculosis
Pulmonary Tuberculosis Confirmation by Sputum Microscopy With or Without CultureTuberculosis (TB) is transmitted in bioaerosols containing Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Mtb-containing bioaerosols are likely related to host infectiousness and central to ongoing TB transmission. No routine diagnostic assay exists to measure Mtb in bioaerosols. Furthermore, published studies of Mtb in bioaerosol samples, have been limited to individuals with sputum-positive pulmonary TB. Currently TB diagnosis is based on clinical symptoms and sputum laboratory findings. However, approximately half of all patients commencing TB treatment are sputum negative resulting in a high proportion of presumptive treatments. We therefore propose to use a sensitive sampling protocol to investigate the prevalence of Mtb-containing bioaerosols in both sputum-positive and sputum-negative TB suspects.

Assessing the Ability of the T-SPOT®.TB Test (IQ)
TuberculosisThe primary objective of this clinical research study is to demonstrate performance of the normalized TB specific lymphocyte response (NTBSLR) in identifying patients with active TB disease. The secondary exploratory objective is to demonstrate that active TB cannot be identified using an antigen-to-mitogen ratio derived from an ELISA-based IGRA.

Xpert MTB/XDR Clinical Evaluation Trial
TuberculosisPulmonary2 moreFIND and partners intend to address the need for a multi- and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (M/XDR-TB) diagnostic solution for patients in settings with a high burden of drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) though the development, evaluation and introduction of an Xpert MTB/XDR assay

Rapid and Accurate Diagnosis of Paediatric TB (RaPaed-AIDA-TB)
TuberculosisDiagnoses DiseaseThis study will serve as a platform to evaluate new diagnostics in children suspected to have TB, establish diagnostic performance (sensitivity and specificity) and calculate positive and negative predictive values in a real-life cohort. Finally, this study will comprise the results of several tests in its database. This will allow simulation of diagnostic algorithms, that may be composed of screening (i.e. rule-out) tests together with confirmatory tests to maximize sensitivity and specificity.

Nanodisk-MS Assay for the Diagnosis of Active Pulmonary and Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis in Hospitalized...
Active TuberculosisTuberculosis3 moreDiagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis are often delayed in hospitalized patients, leading to worse outcomes. Rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis currently relies on microscopy and molecular techniques, which have limitations including low sensitivity and high cost.Highly sensitive diagnostic technique is needed for more accurate rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis to aid earlier initiation of antituberculous therapy. Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) antigens in the bloodstream can potentially allow early diagnosis of tuberculosis. This study aims to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a novel assay using nanotechnology to detect MTB antigens in patients admitted to hospital with suspected pulmonary and/or extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Blood will be taken from eligible patients, and will be sent to the School of Biological and Health Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, for detection of 10-kDa culture filtrate protein (CFP-10) and the 6 kDa early secretory antigenic target (ESAT-6), two antigens specific for MTB, using the Nanodisk-MS assay. Investigations, including microscopy, culture, MTB polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and imaging, will be performed for diagnosis of tuberculosis. The diagnostic performance of Nanodisk-mass spectrometry (MS) assay will be evaluated.

TB-LAM in the Diagnosis of TB
HIV InfectionsTuberculosis1 moreTuberculosis (TB) is still the leading cause of death in HIV-infected patients. Early diagnosis of TB substantially improves the survival of HIV-infected patients. Urine based detection of lipoarabinomannan (LAM) provides promising methods for quick diagnosis of TB in HIV-infected patients. However, the sensitivity and specificity of TB-LAM is still not well established, especially in area where non-tuberculosis mycobacterium is also prevalence. Here we aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of TB-LAM in diagnosis of active TB in hospitalized HIV-infected patients.

COPD Co-infection With Tuberculosis on Th17 Cell Differentiation
Tuberculosis InfectionChronic Obstructive Pulmonary DiseaseThis project will observe and follow up the changes of pulmonary function and CT in patients with smoking combined with pulmonary tuberculosis, and measure the ratio of Th1 cells, Th17 cells, macrophages and neutrophils and the secretion of factors such as TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-17 in pulmonary blood and alveolar lavage fluid.