Urine lipoarabinomannan (LAM) and antimicrobial usage in seriously-ill HIV-infected patients with sputum smear-negative pulmonary tuberculosis.

Conclusions: Urine LAM testing in sputum smear-negative severely-ill hospitalized patients with TB-HIV co-infection and advanced immunosuppression, offered an immediate rule-in diagnosis in one-third of empirically treated patients. Moreover, LAM, by providing a rapid alternative diagnosis, could potentially reduce antibiotic overusage in such patients thereby reducing health-care costs and facilitating antibiotic stewardship. PMID: 31559057 [PubMed]
Source: Journal of Thoracic Disease - Category: Respiratory Medicine Tags: J Thorac Dis Source Type: research