Prevalence and Risk Factors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection among Health Workers in HIV Treatment Centers in North Central, Nigeria.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV constitute a public health challenge. Health workers (HWs) in HIV clinics maybe at greater risk of M. tuberculosis infection, considering the high rates of HIV/tuberculosis (TB) coinfection among patients.

Genetic characterization of complex isolates circulating in Abuja, Nigeria.

Objective: Nigeria ranks fourth among the high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries. This study describes the prevalence of drug resistance and the genetic diversity of in Abuja's Federal Capital Territory.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred and seventy-eight consecutive sputum samples were collected from adults with presumptive TB during 2013-2014.

Patients direct costs to undergo TB diagnosis.

Background: A major impediment to the treatment of TB is a diagnostic process that requires multiple visits. Descriptions of patient costs associated with diagnosis use different protocols and are not comparable.

Methods: We aimed to describe the direct costs incurred by adults attending TB diagnostic centres in four countries and factors associated with expenditure for diagnosis.

Cytokine Kinetics in the First Week of Tuberculosis Therapy as a Tool to Confirm a Clinical Diagnosis and Guide Therapy.

Background: Many patients treated for tuberculosis (TB) in low and middle income countries are treated based on clinical suspicion without bacteriological confirmation. This is often due to lack of rapid simple accurate diagnostics and low healthcare provider confidence in the predictive value of current tests. We previously reported in an animal TB model that levels of host markers rapidly change in response to treatment initiation.

Tuberculosis case detection in Nigeria, the unfinished agenda.

Objective: Underdetection of TB is a major problem in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO recommends countries should have at least 1 laboratory per 100,000 population. However, this recommendation is not evidence based.

Testing Pooled Sputum with Xpert MTB/RIF for Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tuberculosis To Increase Affordability in Low-Income Countries.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health problem, with the highest burden occurring in low-income countries. In these countries, the use of more sensitive diagnostics, such as Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert), is still limited by costs. A cost-saving strategy to diagnose other diseases is to pool samples from various individuals and test them with single tests.

The hidden costs of installing Xpert machines in a tuberculosis high-burden country: experiences from Nigeria.

Introduction: Since the endorsement of GeneXpert MTB/RIF by the WHO, many countries have embarked on implementing this technology.

Objective: We outline the cost of installing GeneXpert in district hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria.

Methods: We prospectively documented costs related to the installation of GeneXpert at five sites.

Intensive-phase treatment outcomes among hospitalized multidrug-resistant tuberculosis patients: results from a nationwide cohort in Nigeria.

Background: Nigeria is faced with a high burden of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). Treatment outcomes among MDR-TB patients registered across the globe have been poor, partly due to high loss-to-follow-up. To address this challenge, MDR-TB patients in Nigeria are hospitalized during the intensive-phase(IP) of treatment (first 6-8 months) and are provided with a package of care including standardized MDR-TB treatment regimen, antiretroviral therapy (ART) and cotrimoxazole prophylaxis (CPT) for HIV-infected patients, nutritional and psychosocial support.

Comparison of Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug susceptibility using solid and liquid culture in Nigeria.

Background: This study compares Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture isolation and drug sensitivity testing (DST) using solid (LJ) and liquid (BACTEC-MGIT-960) media in Nigeria.

Methods: This was a cross sectional survey of adults attending reference centres in Abuja, Ibadan and Nnewi with a new diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) or having failed the first-line TB treatment. Patients were requested to provide three sputum specimens for smear-microscopy and culture on LJ and BACTEC-MGIT-960.

A molecular epidemiological and genetic diversity study of tuberculosis in Ibadan, Nnewi and Abuja, Nigeria.

Background: Nigeria has the tenth highest burden of tuberculosis (TB) among the 22 TB high-burden countries in the world. This study describes the biodiversity and epidemiology of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant TB in Ibadan, Nnewi and Abuja, using 409 DNAs extracted from culture positive TB isolates.

Methodology/principal Findings: DNAs extracted from clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex were studied by spoligotyping and 24 VNTR typing.

alpha1-acid glycoprotein and alpha1-antitrypsin as early markers of treatment response in patients receiving the intensive phase of tuberculosis therapy.

The identification of early markers that predict the response to anti-tuberculosis treatment would facilitate evaluation of new drugs and improve patient management. This study aimed to determine whether selected acute phase proteins and micronutrients measured at the time of diagnosis and during the first weeks of treatment could predict treatment responses during the 2-month standard intensive phase of therapy. For this purpose, alpha1-antitrypsin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, alpha2-macroglobulin, C-reactive protein, C3, C4, zinc, copper and selenium concentrations were measured in Brazilian patients with smear-positive tuberculosis at the time of diagnosis and 1, 3, 5 and 8 weeks after initiation of therapy.