Advancing proficiency testing for ultra in resource-limited settings using dried tube specimen: A study by SRL-Uganda.

Background: Proficiency testing (PT) has been hard to set up due to cost limitations and technical capacity. Conventional Xpert MTB/RIF PT programs use liquid and culture spots which require stringent storage and transportation conditions with cross-contamination chances prevalent. These setbacks prompted the use of dried tube specimens (DTS) for Ultra assay PT.

Phylogenetic lineages of tuberculosis isolates and their association with patient demographics in Tanzania.

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis presents several lineages each with distinct characteristics of evolutionary status, transmissibility, drug resistance, host interaction, latency, and vaccine efficacy. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) has emerged as a new diagnostic tool to reliably inform the occurrence of phylogenetic lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and examine their relationship with patient demographic characteristics and multidrug-resistance development.

Methods: 191 Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates obtained from a 2017/2018 Tanzanian drug resistance survey were sequenced on the Illumina Miseq platform at Supranational Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory in Uganda.

First report of whole-genome analysis of an extensively drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolate with bedaquiline, linezolid and clofazimine resistance from Uganda.

Background: Uganda remains one of the countries with the highest burden of TB/HIV. Drug-resistant TB remains a substantial challenge to TB control globally and requires new strategic effective control approaches. Drug resistance usually develops due to inadequate management of TB patients including improper treatment regimens and failure to complete the treatment course which may be due to an unstable supply or a lack of access to treatment, as well as patient noncompliance.

Molecular characterisation of second-line drug resistance among drug resistant tuberculosis patients tested in Uganda: a two and a half-year's review.

Background: Second-line drug resistance (SLD) among tuberculosis (TB) patients is a serious emerging challenge towards global control of the disease. We characterized SLD-resistance conferring-mutations among TB patients with rifampicin and/or isoniazid (RIF and/or INH) drug-resistance tested at the Uganda National TB Reference Laboratory (NTRL) between June 2017 and December 2019.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional secondary data analysis of 20,508 M.

Rifampicin susceptibility discordance between Xpert MTB/RIF G4 and Xpert Ultra before MDRT-TB treatment initiation: A case report from Uganda.

Tuberculosis (TB) resistance to rifampicin, the most powerful drug leads to increase in mortality. Globally, half a million new patients develop such resistant TB each year, coupled with both inappropriate diagnosis and treatment initiation. We report a case of rifampicin resistant whose rifampicin resistance was missed by Xpert MTB/RIF Assay G4 but detected by the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay at different time points leading to increased delays for MDR-TB treatment initiation at Mulago Hospital, Kampala, Uganda.

Quality of Sputum Specimen Samples Submitted for Culture and Drug Susceptibility Testing at the National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory-Uganda, July-October 2013.

Setting: The Uganda National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory (NTRL) in Kampala.

Objective: The proportion of poor quality specimens received for drug susceptibility testing (DST) at the NTRL and factors contributing to poor specimen quality were assessed.

Design: A cross-sectional study was conducted of sputum samples received at the NTRL from patients at high risk for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) during July-October 2013.