Induced sputum versus gastric lavage for microbiological confirmation of pulmonary tuberculosis in infants and young children: a prospective study.

Background: For microbiological confirmation of diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in young children, sequential gastric lavages are recommended; sputum induction has not been regarded as feasible or useful. We aimed to compare the yield of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from repeated induced sputum with that from gastric lavage in young children from an area with a high rate of HIV and tuberculosis.

Methods: We studied 250 children aged 1 month to 5 years who were admitted for suspected pulmonary tuberculosis in Cape Town, South Africa.

The etiology and outcome of pneumonia in human immunodeficiency virus-infected children admitted to intensive care in a developing country.

In developing countries, many human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected children require intensive care unit (ICU) resources for pneumonia, but there is little information on the etiology of pneumonia or the impact of ICU intervention. OBJECTIVE: To compare the etiology and outcome of pneumonia in HIV-positive and seronegative children admitted to ICU. DESIGN: Prospective study.

Sputum induction as a diagnostic tool for community-acquired pneumonia in infants and young children from a high HIV prevalence area.

Sputum induction is a standard diagnostic procedure to identify pathogens in lower respiratory tract secretions in adults with pneumonia, but has rarely been studied or used in infants and young children. Our aim was to determine the usefulness of induced sputum (IS) as a diagnostic method for infants and children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) in a high HIV prevalence area. Children hospitalized for CAP were prospectively enrolled over a year.

The impact of HIV infection and trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole prophylaxis on bacterial isolates from children with community-acquired pneumonia in South Africa.

The aim of this study was to compare the type and antimicrobial resistance patterns of bacteria cultured from blood or respiratory tract secretions by HIV status and the use of trimethoprim-sulphamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) prophylaxis in children hospitalized with community-acquired pneumonia. During a 1-year prospective study in Cape Town, South Africa, 250 children [median aged 6 (3-16) months] hospitalized with pneumonia were enrolled; 151 (60.4 per cent) were HIV-infected.

The relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection, the virulence genotypes of the infecting strain and gastric cancer in the African setting.

Background: The relationship between Helicobacter pylori infection and gastric carcinoma remains controversial, especially in the African setting where infection is common, while gastric cancer is perceived to be uncommon, the basis of the so called 'African enigma'. This discrepancy between infection and the development of disease is commonly attributed to differences in host, environment and bacterial factors. Interest in the bacterial factors has focused on heterogeneity in the so-called 'virulence genes'.