Validation of the agar proportion and 2 liquid systems for testing the susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to moxifloxacin.

Moxifloxacin (MOX), an 8-methoxyquinolone compound, is now widely used for the treatment of bacterial infections and also accepted as 2nd-line drug for the treatment of multidrug-resistant (MDR) tuberculosis. To tentatively correlate the clinical outcome with in vitro results, we sought to set up susceptibility test conditions for Mycobacterium tuberculosis against MOX by using the reference agar proportion method, the BACTEC 460 radiometric system, and the recently validated nonradiometric BACTEC MGIT 960 system. Our aim was to determine the critical MOX test concentration to be used with the abovementioned methods for routine susceptibility testing.

Use of genotype MTBDR assay for molecular detection of rifampin and isoniazid resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical strains isolated in Italy.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is associated with a high case fatality rate. Rapid identification of resistant strains is crucial for the early administration of appropriate therapy, for prevention of development of further resistance, and to curtail the spread of MDR strains. The Genotype MTBDR (Hain Lifescience, Nehren, Germany) is a reverse hybridization line probe assay designed for the rapid detection of rpoB and katG gene mutations in clinical isolates.

Long-term moxifloxacin in complicated tuberculosis patients with adverse reactions or resistance to first line drugs.

Study Objectives: To test safety and tolerability of long-term moxifloxacin in resistant tuberculosis (TB) patients and patients with intolerance to first line anti-TB drugs.

Design: Clinical evaluation of adverse events (AEs) during prolonged moxifloxacin treatment.

Setting: TB Unit of the Regional TB Reference Center, Villa Marelli Institute, Niguarda Ca'Granda Hospital, Milan, Italy

Patients And Interventions: Patients treated with moxifloxacin, 400 mg orally once daily for TB in the Villa Marelli Institute from January 2001 to December 2003 were enrolled.

Comparison of tuberculin skin test and Quantiferon immunological assay for latent tuberculosis infection.

Background: Correct identification of individuals with latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is a crucial element of the elimination strategy, allowing their adequate treatment. In addition to tuberculin skin test (TST), the Quantiferon test (QFT, based on whole blood gamma-interferon release) had been recently proposed. Aim of the study is to compare this test to TST for identification of LTBI in a non-selected population, in order to verify their value in identifying truly infected individuals (entitled to receive preventive chemotherapy), and to exclude from treatment those having a positive TST for other reasons (e.