Clonal expansion across the seas as seen through CPLP-TB database: A joint effort in cataloguing Mycobacterium tuberculosis genetic diversity in Portuguese-speaking countries.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major health problem within the Community of Portuguese Language Speaking Countries (CPLP). Despite the marked variation in TB incidence across its member-states and continued human migratory flux between countries, a considerable gap in the knowledge on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis population structure and strain circulation between the countries still exists. To address this, we have assembled and analysed the largest CPLP M.

The BACTEC MGIT(tm) 320 system as a laboratory tool to diagnose tuberculosis in a Brazilian hospital with a high prevalence of HIV infection.

Introduction: The World Health Organization endorses the BACTEC Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT)(tm) system as a rapid, sensitive, and specific method to diagnostic of tuberculosis. Here, we compared the performance of this system against Ogawa-Kudoh cultures and microscopy.

Methods: A total of 927 samples were obtained between December 2011 and December 2013 from 652 cases of suspected tuberculosis at the School Hospital of the Federal University of Rio Grande in Brazil.

Evaluation of direct microplate nitrate reductase assay as a rapid method for the detection of multiple and extensively tuberculosis drug resistance.

Introduction: Reports of Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistant to multiple drugs are increasing globally and laboratories are becoming increasingly aware of the need for drug susceptibility testing. In recent years, due to the long time required by conventional drug susceptibility testing, new approaches have been proposed for faster detection of drug resistance, such as the nitrate reductase assay, considered fast and inexpensive, making it a good diagnostic tool for low resource countries.

Objective: The present study proposed a fast direct colorimetric drug susceptibility testing method in a microplate format using solid medium.