Surveillance of Rifampicin Resistance With GeneXpert MTB/RIF in the National Reference Laboratory for Tuberculosis at the Institut Pasteur in Bangui, 2015-2017.

Background: The Central African Republic (CAR) has one of the heaviest burdens of tuberculosis (TB) in the world, with an incidence of 423 cases per 100 000 population. Surveillance of resistance to rifampicin with GeneXpert MTB/RIF was instituted in the National TB Reference Laboratory in 2015. The aim of this study was to evaluate, after 3 years, resistance to rifampicin, the most effective firstline drug against TB.

Poor performance of a novel serological test for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in Bangui, Central African Republic.

We assessed the performance of a serological test for tuberculosis (SDHO Laboratories Inc., Canada) in our setting. Among 68 of 99 suspected pulmonary tuberculosis patients who were scored as having tuberculosis on the basis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-positive culture, the sensitivity of the serological test was lower than that of sputum smear microscopic examination (20.