Will more sensitive diagnostics identify tuberculosis missed by clinicians? Evaluating Xpert MTB/RIF testing in Guatemala.

CONCLUSIONS: We measured a large gain in pulmonary notifications through the introduction of Xpert testing alone. This indicates a large number of people with TB in Guatemala are seeking health care and being tested, yet are not diagnosed or treated because they lack bacteriological confirmation. Wider use of more sensitive TB diagnostics and/or improvements in the number of people clinically diagnosed with TB have the potential to significantly increase TB notifications in this setting, and potentially in other settings where a low proportion of pulmonary notifications are clinically diagnosed. PMID: 31060754 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Gaceta Sanitaria - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Gac Sanit Source Type: research