The execution rate of procedures to diagnose extrapulmonary tuberculosis in Botswana

Background: Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) accounts for about 20% of TB cases worldwide. Its diagnosis is challenging. Aim: This study meant to assess the prevalence of EPTB types, procedures to diagnose EPTB and medical officers' (MOs) views on procedures performed in the diagnosis of EPTB over a 2-year period in Botswana. Setting: The study was conducted in 13 urban and rural facilities of 29 health districts in Botswana. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study that reviewed patients' TB data and administered a questionnaire to MOs. Results: About 2 in 10 TB (n= 2996, 22.7%) cases were classified as EPTB. The most common site of EPTB was pleural (n= 1066, 36.7%) followed by lymph node (LN) (n= 546, 18.8%). A pleural tap was performed in 182 (17.0%) cases of pleural TB and a fine needle aspiration (FNA) in one-third (n= 160, 29.6%) of LN TB cases. There were statistical differences in work experience amongst MOs' responses regarding their self-reported confidence to undertake basic procedures to diagnose EPTB such as pleural tap (p= 0.032) or FNA (p< 0.0001). Conclusion: This study reviewed and evaluated the proportion of EPTB and inquired about MO's experience in managing EPTB. Despite MOs' attendance at Botswana National Tuberculosis Programme (BNTP) TB case management (TBCM) training, the emphasis by the BNTP guidelines and availability of logistics, the execution rate of procedures to diagnose EPTB was still low in Botswana

Phenotypic characterization of mycobacteria isolates from tuberculosis patients in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the leading public health challenges in Nigeria and the burden is still high. There is hence a need for continuous characterization of mycobacteria to obtain current data that will aid the ongoing TB prevention and control programme. The aim of this study was to phenotypically characterize mycobacteria isolates recovered from clinical specimens of patients with tuberculosis in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Methods: Two thousand, two hundred and twelve (2212) sputum samples were collected from patients clinically suspected to have TB in three different zones of Kaduna State, Nigeria, between May 2017 and October, 2018. Samples were processed by decontaminating with NaOH-Citrate N-acetyl-L-Cystein method for Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) AFB microscopy and culture on Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) slants which were incubated at 37ᵒC for 8 weeks. Positive LJ cultures were further analyzed with a rapid TB antigen assay (SD-Bioline) to differentiate Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) from Non Tuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM). Results: Out of the 2212 patients with suspected TB, 300 (13.6%) were positive for AFB by microscopy with Zone A (Kaduna North) having the highest AFB positive cases of 169 (15.2%). Of the 300 AFB positive samples, 272 (91.0%) were culture positive on LJ medium, 18 (6.0%) were culture negative and 10 (3.0%) were culture contaminated. Result of the distribution of mycobacteria among infected patients within the study area revealed that 219 (80.5%) were infected with MTBC, 42 (15.4%) with NTM and 11 (4.0%) with both MTBC and NTM. Conclusion: A relatively high number of TB in the study area was caused by NTM. There is need for advanced diagnostic tools that can differentiate MTBC and NTM strains among TB patients in all TB Reference Laboratories in Nigeria

Prevalence of tuberculosis in patients with chronic cough

Identifying cases of pulmonary TB and their prompt treatment is an effective tool in order to control TB. Chronic cough is an important sign for screening tuberculosis. This study was performed to evaluate the prevalence of tuberculosis in patients with chronic cough. In this cross sectional study, 546 suspicious patients with chronic cough were evaluated by preparing sputum smear and culture and chest radiography, when appropriate. Of 546 cases, 53.7% were male and 46.3% were female. Totally, 80 [15.6%] had smearpositive pulmonary TB, 39 [7.7%] had smear-negative pulmonary TB, and 427 [77.7%] had other diagnosis or were improved cases following antibiotic therapy. Results have revealed that 15% of sputum cultures were positive for acid fast bacilli that is quite higher than other reports, therefore, patients who are referred with chronic cough and do not respond to antibiotic, should be advised to perform sputum culture and chest radiography