Microorganisms Associated With Pneumonia in Children <5 Years of Age in Developing and Emerging Countries: The GABRIEL Pneumonia Multicenter, Prospective, Case-Control Study.

Background: Pneumonia, the leading infectious cause of child mortality globally, mainly afflicts developing countries. This prospective observational study aimed to assess the microorganisms associated with pneumonia in children aged <5 years in developing and emerging countries.

Methods: A multicenter, case-control study by the GABRIEL (Global Approach to Biological Research, Infectious diseases and Epidemics in Low-income countries) network was conducted between 2010 and 2014 in Cambodia, China, Haiti, India (2 sites), Madagascar, Mali, Mongolia, and Paraguay.

Countrywide audit of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and treatment outcomes in Mongolia.

Setting: Eighteen treatment units for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Mongolia.

Objective: To determine the total number of MDR-TB cases detected, their resistance patterns, the proportion and characteristics of cases starting treatment, the delay between diagnosis and treatment initiation, and the relation between treatment outcomes and drug resistance.

Design: Retrospective cohort study using routine programme data.

[The population structure of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Mongolia as assessed using large sequence polymorphism analysis].

112 strains of M. tuberculosis isolated from lung tuberculosis patients in Mongolia were genotyped using RD9, RD7, TbD1, RD105, and RD750 loci. The genotypes of all the strains studied were characterized using the conservation of RD7, RD9, and RD750 loci and the presence of the deletion in the locus TbD1.

Nationwide survey of anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in Mongolia.

Background: Drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB) has emerged as an obstacle to effective TB control.

Setting: The eight district and 21 province TB dispensaries and the two TB hospitals comprising the diagnostic centers for TB in Mongolia.

Methods: To investigate drug resistance levels among new and retreated TB cases.

Quantitative differences in sputum smear microscopy results for acid-fast bacilli by age and sex in four countries.

Objective: To examine the influence of age and sex on the grading of tuberculosis (TB) sputum smear microscopy results.

Setting: Laboratories in Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Methods: Data from nationally representative samples of laboratory registers were double-entered and validated, and discordances were resolved by rechecking against the registers.

Seasonal variation among tuberculosis suspects in four countries.

The objective of the study was to analyze monthly trends across a calendar year in tuberculosis suspects and sputum smear-positive cases based on nationally representative samples of tuberculosis laboratory registers from Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Out of the 47 140 suspects registered in the tuberculosis laboratory registers, 13.4% (6312) were cases.

Seasonality of tuberculosis in an Eastern-Asian country with an extreme continental climate.

Aggregate monthly notifications of incident sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) in Mongolia, stratified by sex and age groups, were analysed separately for Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, and the rest of the country for the 9-yr period from 1998 to 2006. TB notifications were compared with ambient surface temperature. More than twice as many TB cases were notified in the peak month (April) compared with the trough months (October-December), paralleling the temperature curve.

Making pragmatic sense of data in the tuberculosis laboratory register.

Setting: Tuberculosis (TB) microscopy network in Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Objective: To evaluate how scrutinising the information recorded in the TB Laboratory Register can assist in improving the performance of the microscopy laboratory network and TB case management.

Methods: Review of records for completeness in registration of age, sex, reason for examination, analysis of variability patterns in serial smears and provision of exemplary statistical process charts of scanty positive results over time in the four countries.

Sputum smear-positive tuberculosis: empiric evidence challenges the need for confirmatory smears.

Objective: To determine the frequency of single scanty or positive sputum smear results and its impact on the surveillance definition of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB).

Setting: Moldova, Mongolia, Uganda and Zimbabwe.

Methods: A representative sample of laboratories was selected in each country.

Efficiency of serial smear examinations in excluding sputum smear-positive tuberculosis.

Setting: This study determined the number of slides required to identify one additional case of sputum smear-positive tuberculosis (TB) from the third smear. The study hypothesis was that not more than 100 and 75 slides, respectively, in Mongolia and Zimbabwe, need to be examined to find one additional case of TB with a third serial diagnostic sputum smear examination.

Methods: In a retrospective, record-based study, data were abstracted from TB laboratory registers from all 31 laboratories in Mongolia and 23 randomly selected laboratories in Zimbabwe using a uniform EpiData collection instrument.

The nationwide tuberculosis drug resistance survey in Mongolia, 1999.

Setting: Mongolia, a country in the Western Pacific Region burdened with many cases of tuberculosis, with rapid expansion of DOTS over the last several years.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of resistance to major anti-tuberculosis drugs among tuberculosis patients who have never been treated previously.

Design: Sputum specimens were collected from all smear-positive tuberculosis patients identified from 1 November 1998 to 1 May 1999.