Impact of smoking on sputum culture conversion and pulmonary tuberculosis treatment outcomes in Brazil: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of smoking on pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) treatment outcomes and the two-month conversion rates for Mycobacterium tuberculosis sputum cultures among patients with culture-confirmed PTB in an area with a moderate incidence of tuberculosis in Brazil.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of PTB patients diagnosed and treated at the Thoracic Diseases Institute of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro between 2004 and 2012.

Results: Of the 298 patients diagnosed with PTB during the study period, 174 were included in the outcome analysis: 97 (55.

A Phase 2 Randomized Trial of a Rifapentine plus Moxifloxacin-Based Regimen for Treatment of Pulmonary Tuberculosis.

Background: The combination of rifapentine and moxifloxacin administered daily with other anti-tuberculosis drugs is highly active in mouse models of tuberculosis chemotherapy. The objective of this phase 2 clinical trial was to determine the bactericidal activity, safety, and tolerability of a regimen comprised of rifapentine, moxifloxacin, isoniazid, and pyrazinamide administered daily during the first 8 weeks of pulmonary tuberculosis treatment.

Methods: Adults with sputum smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis were randomized to receive either rifapentine (approximately 7.

Yield of close contact tracing using two different programmatic approaches from tuberculosis index cases: a retrospective quasi-experimental study.

Background: Being a contact of a pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) case is a risk factor for active and latent TB. The objective of this study is to determine the contact tracing yield using two different programmatic definitions of close contact in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Methods: This is a retrospective quasi-experimental study.

Point-of-care Arkansas method for measuring adherence to treatment with isoniazid.

We evaluated the accuracy of a point-of-care test designed to measure adherence to isoniazid (INH) preventive therapy in a hospital setting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Patients on treatment with daily INH and patients not receiving INH were included. Sensitivity and specificity of the test were 84%/98% at the first minute, and 95%/98% at the fifth minute, respectively.

Moxifloxacin versus ethambutol in the initial treatment of tuberculosis: a double-blind, randomised, controlled phase II trial.

Background: New treatments are needed to shorten the time required to cure tuberculosis and to treat drug-resistant strains. The fluoroquinolone moxifloxacin is a promising new agent that might have additive activity to existing antituberculosis agents. We assessed the activity and safety of moxifloxacin in the initial stage of tuberculosis treatment.

T-SPOT.TB responses during treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Background: Immune responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens could serve as surrogate markers of treatment response.

Methods: Using the T-SPOT.TB assay and frozen peripheral blood mononuclear cells, we enumerated ESAT-6- and CFP-10-specific IFN-gamma-producing T cells over time in pulmonary TB patients receiving directly observed treatment.

Role of IFN-gamma +874 T/A single nucleotide polymorphism in the tuberculosis outcome among Brazilians subjects.

Several genetic cytokine gene variants have been associated with host susceptibility to infectious diseases, including tuberculosis. Based upon the importance of IFN-gamma in protective immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and the functional role of the IFN-gamma + 874T/A single nucleotide polymorphism in IFN-gamma production, we genotyped 93 Brazilian tuberculosis patients and 266 asymptomatic health care workers, including 150 individuals with a positive tuberculin skin test, and analyzed the possible association of the +874A low IFN-gamma producer allele with tuberculosis occurrence. Using multivariable logistic regression models, genotype and allele frequencies of the mutant + 874A (low IFN-gamma producer) allele were significantly associated with tuberculosis disease.