Previous treatment in predicting drug-resistant tuberculosis in an area bordering East London, UK.

Objectives: To determine the utility of 'risk assessment' in selecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates for rifampin resistance or rpoB genotyping compared to 'non-selectively' genotyping all isolates. Secondly, we examined the association between past treatment and drug resistance.

Methods: From January 2003 to December 2006, demographic, clinical, and laboratory data were prospectively collected on patients with laboratory-confirmed tuberculosis (TB).

Neutrophil-mediated innate immune resistance to mycobacteria.

Neutrophils contain antimicrobial peptides with antituberculous activity, but their contribution to immune resistance to tuberculosis (TB) infection has not been previously investigated to our knowledge. We determined differential white cell counts in peripheral blood of 189 adults who had come into contact with patients diagnosed with active TB in London, United Kingdom, and evaluated them for evidence of TB infection and capacity to restrict mycobacterial growth in whole-blood assays. Risk of TB infection was inversely and independently associated with peripheral blood neutrophil count in contacts of patients diagnosed with pulmonary TB.

A single dose of vitamin D enhances immunity to mycobacteria.

Rationale: Vitamin D was used to treat tuberculosis (TB) in the preantibiotic era. Prospective studies to evaluate the effect of vitamin D supplementation on antimycobacterial immunity have not previously been performed.

Objectives: To determine the effect of vitamin D supplementation on antimycobacterial immunity and vitamin D status.