Impact of anemia on sputum smear conversion and treatment outcomes among newly diagnosed tuberculosis patients in Southern India.

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. The higher prevalence of anemia among TB patients is concerning due to its association with delayed sputum conversion and poor treatment outcomes. The present study aimed to evaluate the association of anemia with sputum smear conversion and treatment outcomes among TB patients.

Prediction of potential drug interactions between repurposed COVID-19 and antitubercular drugs: an integrational approach of drug information software and computational techniques data.

Introduction: Tuberculosis is a major respiratory disease globally with a higher prevalence in Asian and African countries than rest of the world. With a larger population of tuberculosis patients anticipated to be co-infected with COVID-19 infection, an ongoing pandemic, identifying, preventing and managing drug-drug interactions is inevitable for maximizing patient benefits for the current repurposed COVID-19 and antitubercular drugs.

Methods: We assessed the potential drug-drug interactions between repurposed COVID-19 drugs and antitubercular drugs using the drug interaction checker of IBM Micromedex®.

Active Case Finding for Tuberculosis through TOUCH Agents in Selected High TB Burden Wards of Kolkata, India: A Mixed Methods Study on Outcomes and Implementation Challenges.

Active case finding (ACF) for tuberculosis (TB) was implemented in 60 selected high TB burden wards of Kolkata, India. Community volunteers called TOUCH (Targeted Outreach for Upliftment of Community Health) agents (TAs) identified and referred presumptive TB patients (PTBPs) to health facilities for TB diagnosis and treatment. We aimed to describe the "care cascade" of PTBPs that were identified during July to December 2018 and to explore the reasons for attrition as perceived by TAs and PTBPs.