Routine surgery in addition to chemotherapy for treating spinal tuberculosis.

Background: Tuberculosis is generally curable with chemotherapy, but there is controversy in the literature about the need for surgical intervention in the one to two per cent of people with tuberculosis of the spine.

Objectives: To compare chemotherapy plus surgery with chemotherapy alone for treating people diagnosed with active tuberculosis of the spine.

Search Methods: We searched the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register (February 2010), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2010,Issue 1), MEDLINE (1966 to February 2010), EMBASE (1974 to February 2010), LILACS (1982 to February 2010), conference proceedings, and reference lists.

Role of the QuantiFERON(R)-TB Gold In-Tube assay in screening new immigrants for tuberculosis infection.

This study aimed to estimate the risk of progression to active tuberculosis (TB) within 2 yrs after entry in newly arriving immigrants who were screened with the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube assay (QFT-GIT; Cellestis, Carnegie, Australia). In a case-base design, we determined the prevalence QFT-GIT-positive subjects among a representative sample of immigrants aged ≥ 18 yrs who arrived between April 2009 and March 2011 (the base cohort). Active TB patients (cases) within 2 yrs post-arrival in 2005, 2006 or 2007 were extracted from the Netherlands Tuberculosis Register.

Routine surgery in addition to chemotherapy for treating spinal tuberculosis.

Background: Tuberculosis is generally curable with chemotherapy, but there is controversy in the literature about the need for surgical intervention in the one to two per cent of people with tuberculosis of the spine.

Objectives: To compare chemotherapy plus surgery with chemotherapy alone for treating people diagnosed with active tuberculosis of the spine.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group Specialized Register (October 2005), CENTRAL (The Cochrane Library 2005, Issue 4), MEDLINE (1966 to October 2005), EMBASE (1974 to October 2005), LILACS (1982 to October 2005), conference proceedings, and reference lists.

Tuberculosis infection in children who are contacts of immigrant tuberculosis patients.

The present study aimed to determine what proportion of children who are in close contact with immigrant tuberculosis (TB) patients are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. For 1.5 yrs, 14 municipal health services in The Netherlands collected data from all non-Dutch TB patients and their contacts.