Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Diagnostic Microbiology and Infectious Disease".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2023) | Viewed by 15034

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, 1649-003 Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: tuberculosis; mycobacteria; gram-negative bacteria; molecular epidemiology; genomics; drug resistance

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Guest Editor
Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, Portugal
Interests: tuberculosis; medical microbiology; infection; genetics; evolution

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues, 

Until the emergence of SARS-CoV-2, tuberculosis (TB) remained the leading cause of death by a single infectious agent. Nonetheless, the present COVID-19 pandemic has imposed serious limitations to national TB control plans by delaying access to TB treatment and diagnosis. In 2020, data from the World Health Organization indicated a reverse in the global progress towards reducing TB disease burden, an 18% drop in the number of newly reported TB cases and an increase in the number of TB deaths that puts us back to the level recorded in 2017. The continued impact and trend in 2021 is still unknown, but this setback clearly compromises the ongoing efforts and current framework seeking TB elimination by 2035.

In this ongoing context, improved case detection and surveillance will play critical roles in halting TB transmission by informing national TB control plans and new public health action and policies. so, this Special Issue will focus on aspects pertaining to the diagnosis, detection and evaluation of novel biomarker signatures for disease progression and, also, on all aspects concerning TB public health surveillance, including genotypic, molecular epidemiological investigation and characterization of the M. tuberculosis genotypic diversity. The main objective of this Special Issue is to publish high-quality research on these topics, and either original or review articles are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. João Perdigão
Dr. Isabel Portugal
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Research

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12 pages, 811 KiB  
Article
Factors Associated with the Effectiveness of Regimens for the Treatment of Tuberculosis in Patients Coinfected with HIV/AIDS: Cohort 2015 to 2019
by Natália Helena de Resende, Silvana Spíndola de Miranda, Adriano Max Moreira Reis, Cristiane Aparecida Menezes de Pádua, João Paulo Amaral Haddad, Paulo Vitor Rozario da Silva, Dirce Inês da Silva and Wânia da Silva Carvalho
Diagnostics 2023, 13(6), 1181; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13061181 - 20 Mar 2023
Viewed by 1323
Abstract
(1) Background: Infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a significant challenge for tuberculosis (TB) control, with increasing mortality rates worldwide. Moreover, the loss to follow-up is very high, with low adherence to treatment, resulting in unfavorable endpoints. This study aimed to [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a significant challenge for tuberculosis (TB) control, with increasing mortality rates worldwide. Moreover, the loss to follow-up is very high, with low adherence to treatment, resulting in unfavorable endpoints. This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of TB treatment in patients coinfected with HIV/AIDS and its associated factors. (2) Methods: Patients coinfected with TB and HIV/AIDS at a Reference Hospital for infectious diseases were followed up for a maximum of one year from the start of TB treatment until cure or censorship (death, abandonment, and transfer) from 2015 to 2019. The Cox proportional model was used to identify risk factors for effectiveness. (3) Results: Of the 244 patients included in the cohort, 58.2% (142/244) had no treatment effectiveness, 12.3% (30/244) died, and 11.1% (27/244) abandoned treatment. Viral suppression at the onset of TB treatment (HR = 1.961, CI = 1.123–3.422), previous use of Antiretroviral Therapy (HR = 1.676, CI = 1.060–2.651), new cases (HR = 2.407, CI = 1.197–3.501), not using illicit drugs (HR = 1.763, CI = 1.141–2.723), and using the basic TB regimen (HR = 1.864, CI = 1.084–3.205) were significant variables per the multivariate Cox regression analysis. (4) Conclusion: TB treatment for most TB patients coinfected with HIV/AIDS was not effective. This study identified that an undetectable viral load at the beginning of the disease, previous use of ART, not using illicit drugs and not having previously taken anti-TB treatment are factors associated with successful TB treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis)
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9 pages, 264 KiB  
Article
Comparison of Two Tuberculosis Infection Tests in a South American Tertiary Hospital: STANDARD F TB-Feron FIA vs. QIAreachTM QuantiFERON-TB
by Gustavo Saint-Pierre, Daniel Conei, Patricia Cantillana, Mariella Raijmakers, Andrea Vera, Daniela Gutiérrez, Cristopher Kennedy, Paulina Peralta and Paulina Ramonda
Diagnostics 2023, 13(6), 1162; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13061162 - 18 Mar 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1700
Abstract
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most prevalent respiratory diseases in the world. In 2020 there were at least 9.9 million new infections, with 1.5 million deaths. Approximately 10% of people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis develop the disease during the first 2 [...] Read more.
Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most prevalent respiratory diseases in the world. In 2020 there were at least 9.9 million new infections, with 1.5 million deaths. Approximately 10% of people infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis develop the disease during the first 2 to 5 years after infection. In South America, the diagnosis of Latent Tuberculosis Infections (LTBI) continues to be performed through the Mantoux tuberculin skin test (TST). Objective: The objective of our study was to compare the sensitivity of a new immunofluorescence IGRA test against a widely available IGRA kit on the market. Material and method: Close contact with infectious TB patients, HIV patients, or immunocompromised for another cause were recruited. Two interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) diagnostic kits were used and compared with TST. Results: 76 patients were recruited, 93.42% were Chilean nationality, and 98.68% of the patients did not have immunosuppression. The sensitivity of the new technique was 88.89%, and the specificity was 92.50% in the study population compared to the IGRA previously used. In the subgroup older than 36 years, the sensitivity was 95.65%, and the specificity was 89.47%. Conclusion: IGRA techniques are a new resource in clinical laboratories to make an accurate diagnosis of LTBI in the region of the Americas. In our population, the greatest benefit of this new IGRA would be observed in people over 36 years of age, where the sensitivity of the technique was like that of the currently available test. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis)
13 pages, 2425 KiB  
Article
First Insight into Diversity of Minisatellite Loci in Mycobacterium bovis/M. caprae in Bulgaria
by Daria Terentieva, Tanya Savova-Lalkovska, Albena Dimitrova, Magdalena Bonovska, Igor Mokrousov and Violeta Valcheva
Diagnostics 2023, 13(4), 771; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13040771 - 17 Feb 2023
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Abstract
The aim of this study was to assess the diversity of minisatellite VNTR loci in Mycobacterium bovis/M. caprae isolates in Bulgaria and view their position within global M. bovis diversity. Forty-three M. bovis/M. caprae isolates from cattle in different [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to assess the diversity of minisatellite VNTR loci in Mycobacterium bovis/M. caprae isolates in Bulgaria and view their position within global M. bovis diversity. Forty-three M. bovis/M. caprae isolates from cattle in different farms in Bulgaria were collected in 2015–2021 and typed in 13 VNTR loci. The M. bovis and M. caprae branches were clearly separated on the VNTR phylogenetic tree. The larger and more geographically dispersed M. caprae group was more diverse than M. bovis group was (HGI 0.67 vs. 0.60). Overall, six clusters were identified (from 2 to 19 isolates) and nine orphans (all loci-based HGI 0.79). Locus QUB3232 was the most discriminatory one (HGI 0.64). MIRU4 and MIRU40 were monomorphic, and MIRU26 was almost monomorphic. Four loci (ETRA, ETRB, Mtub21, and MIRU16) discriminated only between M. bovis and M. caprae. The comparison with published VNTR datasets from 11 countries showed both overall heterogeneity between the settings and predominantly local evolution of the clonal complexes. To conclude, six loci may be recommended for primary genotyping of M. bovis/M. caprae isolates in Bulgaria: ETRC, QUB11b, QUB11a, QUB26, QUB3232, and MIRU10 (HGI 0.77). VNTR typing based on a limited number of loci appears to be useful for primary bTB surveillance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis)
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16 pages, 2530 KiB  
Article
Performance of T-Track® TB, a Novel Dual Marker RT-qPCR-Based Whole-Blood Test for Improved Detection of Active Tuberculosis
by Johannes P. Meier, Selina Möbus, Florian Heigl, Alexandra Asbach-Nitzsche, Hans Helmut Niller, Annelie Plentz, Korkut Avsar, Marion Heiß-Neumann, Bernhard Schaaf, Uwe Cassens, Bernd Seese, Daniel Teschner, Sabin Handzhiev, Uwe Graf, Christoph Lübbert, Monika Steinmaurer, Konstantina Kontogianni, Christoph Berg, Andreas Maieron, Stefan H. Blaas, Ralf Wagner, Ludwig Deml and Sascha Barabasadd Show full author list remove Hide full author list
Diagnostics 2023, 13(4), 758; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13040758 - 16 Feb 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1710
Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease. It remains a major health burden worldwide, in part due to misdiagnosis. Therefore, improved diagnostic tests allowing the faster and more reliable diagnosis of patients with active TB are [...] Read more.
Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of death by an infectious disease. It remains a major health burden worldwide, in part due to misdiagnosis. Therefore, improved diagnostic tests allowing the faster and more reliable diagnosis of patients with active TB are urgently needed. This prospective study examined the performance of the new molecular whole-blood test T-Track® TB, which relies on the combined evaluation of IFNG and CXCL10 mRNA levels, and compared it to that of the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Diagnostic accuracy and agreement analyses were conducted on the whole blood of 181 active TB patients and 163 non-TB controls. T-Track® TB presented sensitivity of 94.9% and specificity of 93.8% for the detection of active TB vs. non-TB controls. In comparison, the QFT-Plus ELISA showed sensitivity of 84.3%. The sensitivity of T-Track® TB was significantly higher (p < 0.001) than that of QFT-Plus. The overall agreement of T-Track® TB with QFT-Plus to diagnose active TB was 87.9%. Out of 21 samples with discordant results, 19 were correctly classified by T-Track® TB while misclassified by QFT-Plus (T-Track® TB-positive/QFT-Plus-negative), and two samples were misclassified by T-Track® TB while correctly classified by QFT-Plus (T-Track® TB-negative/QFT-Plus-positive). Our results demonstrate the excellent performance of the T-Track® TB molecular assay and its suitability to accurately detect TB infection and discriminate active TB patients from non-infected controls. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis)
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10 pages, 1200 KiB  
Article
Predictors for False-Negative Interferon-Gamma Release Assay Results in Hemodialysis Patients with Latent Tuberculosis Infection
by Heechul Park, Yun-Jeong Kang, Ye Na Kim, Sung-Bae Park, Jaewon Lim, Ji Young Park, Young Ae Kang, Hyejon Lee, Jungho Kim and Sunghyun Kim
Diagnostics 2023, 13(1), 88; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13010088 - 28 Dec 2022
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1627
Abstract
The present study aimed to clinically evaluate the effect of T-cell dysfunction in hemodialysis (HD) patients with latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) who were false-negatives in the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test. Whole blood samples from a total of 20 active TB patients, [...] Read more.
The present study aimed to clinically evaluate the effect of T-cell dysfunction in hemodialysis (HD) patients with latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) who were false-negatives in the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) test. Whole blood samples from a total of 20 active TB patients, 83 HD patients, and 52 healthy individuals were collected, and the QFT-GIT test was used for measuring Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)-specific interferon gamma (IFN-γ) level. The positive rate of the IFN-γ release assays (IGRAs) in HD patients was lower than the negative rate. The mean value of MTB-specific IFN-γ level, which determines the positive rate of the IGRA test, was highest in active TB, followed by HD patients and healthy individuals. Among HD patients, phytohemagglutinin A (PHA)-stimulated IFN-γ levels of approximately 40% were 10.00 IU/mL or less. However, there was no low level of PHA-stimulated IFN-γ in the healthy individuals. This reveals that T-cell function in HD patients was reduced compared to healthy individuals, which leads to the possibility that QFT-GIT results in HD patients are false-negative. The clinical manifestations of TB in patients on HD are quite non-specific, making timely diagnosis difficult and delaying the initiation of curative treatment, delay being a major determinant of outcome. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis)
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Review

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18 pages, 2697 KiB  
Review
Cardiovascular Involvement in Tuberculosis: From Pathophysiology to Diagnosis and Complications—A Narrative Review
by Dragos Traian Marius Marcu, Cristina Andreea Adam, Florin Mitu, Carmen Cumpat, Viviana Aursulesei Onofrei, Mihai Lucian Zabara, Alexandru Burlacu and Radu Crisan Dabija
Diagnostics 2023, 13(3), 432; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics13030432 - 25 Jan 2023
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 6651
Abstract
Although primarily a lung disease, extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) can affect any organ or system. Of these, cardiovascular complications associated with disease or drug toxicity significantly worsen the prognosis. Approximately 60% of patients with TB have a cardiovascular disease, the most common associated pathological [...] Read more.
Although primarily a lung disease, extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) can affect any organ or system. Of these, cardiovascular complications associated with disease or drug toxicity significantly worsen the prognosis. Approximately 60% of patients with TB have a cardiovascular disease, the most common associated pathological entities being pericarditis, myocarditis, and coronary artery disease. We searched the electronic databases PubMed, MEDLINE, and EMBASE for studies that evaluated the impact of TB on the cardiovascular system, from pathophysiological mechanisms to clinical and paraclinical diagnosis of cardiovascular involvement as well as the management of cardiotoxicity associated with antituberculosis medication. The occurrence of pericarditis in all its forms and the possibility of developing constrictive pericarditis, the association of concomitant myocarditis with severe systolic dysfunction and complication with acute heart failure phenomena, and the long-term development of aortic aneurysms with risk of complications, as well as drug-induced toxicity, pose complex additional problems in the management of patients with TB. In the era of multidisciplinarity and polymedication, evidence-based medicine provides various tools that facilitate an integrative management that allows early diagnosis and treatment of cardiac pathologies associated with TB. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Detection and Surveillance of Tuberculosis)
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