Point-of-Care Urine Lipoarabinomannan Testing to Guide Tuberculosis Treatment Among Severely Ill Inpatients With Human Immunodeficiency Virus in Real-World Practice: A Multicenter Stepped Wedge Cluster-Randomized Trial From Ghana.

Background: The lateral flow urine lipoarabinomannan assay, Determine TB LAM (Determine LAM), offers the potential for timely tuberculosis (TB) treatment among people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH).

Methods: In this cluster-randomized trial, Determine LAM was made available with staff training with performance feedback at 3 hospitals in Ghana. Newly admitted PWH with a positive World Health Organization four-symptom screening for TB, severe illness, or advanced HIV were enrolled.

Genomic epidemiological analysis identifies high relapse among individuals with recurring tuberculosis and provides evidence of recent household-related transmission of tuberculosis in Ghana.

Objective: To retrospectively investigate the cause of recurring tuberculosis (rcTB) among participants with pulmonary TB recruited from a prospective population-based study conducted between July 2012 and December 2015.

Methods: Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates obtained from rcTB cases were characterized by standard mycobacterial genotyping tools, whole-genome sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis carried out to assess strain relatedness.

Results: The majority (58.

A cross-sectional study of tuberculosis drug resistance among previously treated patients in a tertiary hospital in Accra, Ghana: public health implications of standardized regimens.

Background: Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance is a major challenge to the use of standardized regimens for tuberculosis (TB) therapy, especially among previously treated patients. We aimed to investigate the frequency and pattern of drug resistance among previously treated patients with smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis at the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Chest Clinic, Accra.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey of mycobacterial isolates from previously treated patients referred to the Chest Clinic Laboratory between October 2010 and October 2013.