Molecular investigations of Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes among baseline and follow-up strains circulating in four regions of Eswatini.

Background: The tuberculosis (TB) epidemic remains a major global health problem and Eswatini is not excluded. Our study investigated the circulating genotypes in Eswatini and compared them at baseline (start of treatment) and follow-up during TB treatment.

Methods: Three hundred and ninety (n = 390) participants were prospectively enrolled from referral clinics and patients who met the inclusion criteria, were included in the study.

Machine learning reveals that Mycobacterium tuberculosis genotypes and anatomic disease site impacts drug resistance and disease transmission among patients with proven extra-pulmonary tuberculosis.

Background: There is a general dearth of information on extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). Here, we investigated Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) drug resistance and transmission patterns in EPTB patients treated in the Tshwane metropolitan area, in South Africa.

Methods: Consecutive Mtb culture-positive non-pulmonary samples from unique EPTB patients underwent mycobacterial genotyping and were assigned to phylogenetic lineages and transmission clusters based on spoligotypes.

A Comparative Evaluation of the New Genexpert MTB/RIF Ultra and other Rapid Diagnostic Assays for Detecting Tuberculosis in Pulmonary and Extra Pulmonary Specimens.

Studies evaluating the new GeneXpert Ultra with other rapid diagnostic assays are limited, particularly in different geographical settings. The performance of the GeneXpert Ultra, the GeneXpert G4, the Line probe assays (LPA) and auramine smear microscopy in detecting TB in pulmonary and extra-pulmonary samples were thus evaluated. Remnants (n = 205 samples) of pulmonary (n = 125 samples) and extra-pulmonary (n = 80 samples) specimens from TB suspects were prospectively collected.

Molecular characterization of hepatitis B virus X gene in HIV-positive South Africans.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major public health problem worldwide and the major cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in South Africa. The role of HBV in HCC is not well understood, although the HBV X gene has been implicated as a critical factor. Data on the HBV X gene in HIV-positive South Africans are limited; thus, we investigated X gene variability in 24 HIV-infected treatment-naïve patients at Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital.

Comparison of line probe assay to BACTEC MGIT 960 system for susceptibility testing of first and second-line anti-tuberculosis drugs in a referral laboratory in South Africa.

Background: The incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is increasing and the emergence of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a major challenge. Controlling resistance, reducing transmission and improving treatment outcomes in MDR/XDR-TB patients is reliant on susceptibility testing. Susceptibility testing using phenotypic methods is labour intensive and time-consuming.

Draft Genome Sequences of Two Extensively Drug-Resistant Strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Belonging to the Euro-American S Lineage.

We report the whole-genome sequencing of two extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis strains belonging to the Euro-American S lineage. The RSA 114 strain showed single-nucleotide polymorphisms predicted to have drug efflux activity.