Evaluation of pulmonary tuberculosis case detection improvement with the deployment of XpertMTB/Rif in the tuberculosis control program of cross River State, Nigeria.

Objective/background: Global indices show that Nigeria has the highest tuberculosis (TB)-related mortality rate. Overdependence on Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) smear microscopy for diagnosis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS has limited control efforts. The new polymerase chain reaction-based XpertMTB/Rif (Cepheid Inc.