Publications by authors named "Shahnoza Azamova"
Article Synopsis
- A study evaluated the effectiveness of the Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra assay in detecting tuberculosis (TB) in fresh stool samples from children under 15 years old in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, enrolling 688 participants from April 2019 to October 2021.
- The assay showed a sensitivity of 68.8% and a high specificity of 98.7%, indicating it can effectively identify TB in this population, despite challenges like staffing shortages and outdated protocols due to COVID-19.
- This report, being one of the first from Central Asia and a low-middle-income country, supports the WHO's recommendation to use fresh stool as an acceptable sample for TB testing in young children, who struggle to provide sputum samples.
Introduction: Tajikistan is scaling up molecular diagnostic and digital technologies to strengthen its fight against drug-resistant TB (DR-TB). The study aimed to document national scale-up GeneXpert/GxAlert and Open MRS from 2012-2019 and compare time taken from TB diagnosis to treatment and quality of data recording before and after the introduction of GxAlert.
Methodology: This was a longitudinal study that included a comparison of historical cohorts.
Background: There are very few studies on reasons for loss to follow-up from TB treatment in Central Asia. This study assessed risk factors for LTFU and compared their occurrence with successfully treated (ST) patients in Tajikistan.
Methods: This study took place in all TB facilities in the 19 districts with at least 5 TB patients registered as loss to follow-up (LTFU) from treatment.