Providing personalised care for people with tuberculosis: an evaluation of enhanced case management in a UK TB Network 2013 to 2021.

Objectives: Evaluating the outcomes of enhanced case management (ECM) for patients with tuberculosis (TB) in the North Central London TB Service (NCLTBS).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: The NCLTBS provides care for persons diagnosed with TB across north and central London.

Improved treatment completion for tuberculosis patients: The case for a dedicated social care team.

Objectives: The increasing social needs of people with Tuberculosis (TB), and the poor adherence to anti-TB therapy (ATT) associated with homelessness, drug or alcohol abuse, and prison history, led us to introduce a social care team (SCT) to support patient engagement with care within this low TB incidence setting.

Methods: Using a risk assessment, patients with social risk factors (SRF) for non-adherence to ATT are identified and a referral made to the SCT, who then provide intensive casework support for areas including homelessness, housing, benefits, debt and immigration. Retrospective data analysis of the social care database from 2017 to 2019 was conducted.

Fluoroquinolones and isoniazid-resistant tuberculosis: implications for the 2018 WHO guidance.

Introduction: 2018 World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines for the treatment of isoniazid (H)-resistant (Hr) tuberculosis recommend a four-drug regimen: rifampicin (R), ethambutol (E), pyrazinamide (Z) and levofloxacin (Lfx), with or without H ([H]RZE-Lfx). This is used once Hr is known, such that patients complete 6 months of Lfx (≥6[H]RZE-6Lfx). This cohort study assessed the impact of fluoroquinolones (Fq) on treatment effectiveness, accounting for Hr mutations and degree of phenotypic resistance.

Discordance in latent tuberculosis (TB) test results in patients with end-stage renal disease.

Objectives: This natural experiment was designed to assess the impact of exposure to an active case of tuberculosis (TB) on a group of immunosuppressed individuals, with end-stage renal disease over an extended follow-up.

Study Design: Close contacts of people with sputum smear-positive Mycobacterium tuberculosis are at high risk of infection, particularly immunosuppressed individuals. An infectious TB healthcare worker worked in a renal dialysis unit for a month before diagnosis, with 104 renal dialysis patients, was exposed for ≥8 h.