Evaluation of molecular tools for detection and drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in stool specimens from patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis is difficult when patients cannot produce sputum. Most sputum is swallowed, and tuberculosis DNA can survive intestinal transit. We therefore evaluated molecular testing of stool specimens for detecting tuberculosis originating from the lungs.

Infrequent MODS TB culture cross-contamination in a high-burden resource-poor setting.

One obstacle to wider use of rapid liquid culture-based tuberculosis diagnostics such as the microscopic observation drug susceptibility (MODS) assay is concern about cross-contamination. We investigated the rate of laboratory cross-contamination in MODS, automated MBBacT, and Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) cultures performed in parallel, through triangulation of microbiologic (reculturing stored samples), molecular (spoligotype/RFLP), and clinical epidemiologic data. At least 1 culture was positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis for 362 (11%) of 3416 samples; 53 were regarded as potential cross-contamination suspects.

Association between vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms and response to treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis.

Background: Polymorphisms in the gene that encodes the vitamin D receptor (VDR) may influence the host response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

Methods: In a Peruvian community with a high incidence of tuberculosis (TB), VDR TaqI and FokI polymorphisms were compared among 103 patients with pulmonary TB and 206 matched healthy control subjects. Associations of VDR polymorphisms with treatment outcome were analyzed among 78 patients undergoing treatment of pulmonary TB.

Evaluation of a PCR-based universal heteroduplex generator assay as a tool for rapid detection of multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Peru.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis is an increasing health problem worldwide, especially in developing countries. The PCR-UHG-Rif assay, which detects mutations within the rpoB gene associated with rifampin resistance, was evaluated for its ability and reliability to detect and identify drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in a developing country where tuberculosis is highly endemic.