Abstract
BACKGROUND
Diagnosis of pulmonary TB by conventional smear microscopy requires patient attendance on 2 consecutive days. We investigated whether collecting sputum on-the-spot for smear microscopy on the day the patient presented was as sensitive and specific for diagnosis as the conventional spot-morning-spot scheme.
METHOD
We enrolled 412 adults who presented between January 2009 and October 2010 at the National Centre for TB Control in Tripoli, Libya, with cough of >2 weeks' duration, into a cross-sectional survey collecting four sputum specimens: on-the-spot and Xspot on Day 1; morning and on-the-spot on Day 2.
RESULTS
97 (24%) of 401 culture results were culture positive. Spot-Xspot and spot-morning smear microscopy had, respectively, 65% and 66% sensitivity and 97% and 96% specificity (p > 0.5). Spot-Xspot-morning and Spot-morning-spot smear-microscopy had, respectively, 67% and 66% sensitivity and 96% and 96% specificity (p > 0.5).
CONCLUSION
For the diagnosis of pulmonary TB, the sensitivity and specificity of front-loaded (same-day) smear microscopy is similar to that of the standard smear microscopy scheme.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | trs023 |
| Pages (from-to) | 137-139 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |
| Volume | 107 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2013 |
Keywords
- Adults
- Diagnosis
- Same-day
- Smear microscopy
- Tuberculosis
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