Tuberculosis cases caused by heterogeneous infection in Eastern Europe and their influence on outcomes.

Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis superinfection is known to occur in areas with high rates of tuberculosis (TB) and has a significant impact on overall clinical TB management.

Aim: We aimed to estimate the superinfection rate in cohorts of drug sensitive and multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) patients from Eastern Europe and the potential role of a second MDR TB strain infecting a patient with active non-MDR TB in treatment outcome.

Methods: The study population included 512 serial M.

Utility of propidium monoazide viability assay as a biomarker for a tuberculosis disease.

Reliable laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), including laboratory biomarkers of cure, remains a challenge. In our study we evaluated the performance of a Propidium Monoazide (PMA) assay for the detection of viable TB bacilli in sputum specimens during anti-TB chemotherapy and its potential use as a TB biomarker. The study was conducted at three centres on 1937 sputum specimens from 310 adult bacteriologically confirmed pulmonary TB patients obtained before commencing anti-TB treatment and at regular intervals afterwards.