Abstract
BackgroundIn India, since July 2012, at designated Microscopy Centers (DMCs) in 200 medical colleges, sputum smear examination for tuberculosis bacilli changed from Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) method to auramine based Light Emitting Diode Fluorescent Microscopy (LED-FM) method. We assessed the additional yield of smear positives among patients undergoing follow-up sputum examination during TB treatment before and after deploying LED-FM.MethodsThis was a before and after comparison study in eight conveniently selected medical college DMCs across North India. We extracted data from TB laboratory registers on number of TB patients examined for follow-up and their smear microscopy results including the grades by ZN (before; July–December 2011) and LED-FM (after; July–December 2012) and compared them.ResultsAltogether, 2868 TB patients were examined by LED-FM and 2740 were examined by ZN during follow-up. LED-FM increased the proportion of follow-up smear positives from 5.0 % (n = 136) to 7.4 % (n = 213) with an additional yield of 77 follow-up smear-positives—with the highest increase in smears graded scanty (2.6 vs 1.2 %) (p value <0.05).ConclusionsSince all smear positives during follow-up are considered ‘presumptive multidrug resistant (MDR)-TB patients’ in India, introduction of LED-FM would result in additional number of patients eligible for MDR-TB testing, which would have otherwise been missed by ZN.
Highlights
In India, since July 2012, at designated Microscopy Centers (DMCs) in 200 medical colleges, sputum smear examination for tuberculosis bacilli changed from Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) method to auramine based Light Emitting Diode Fluorescent Microscopy (LED-FM) method
There is no evidence from India if use of LED-FM increases the detection of smear positives among patients undergoing follow-up sputum smear examination under routine programmatic conditions
We reviewed the TB laboratory registers and abstracted aggregate data on number of TB patients examined for follow-up and their smear microscopy results including grades
Summary
In India, since July 2012, at designated Microscopy Centers (DMCs) in 200 medical colleges, sputum smear examination for tuberculosis bacilli changed from Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) method to auramine based Light Emitting Diode Fluorescent Microscopy (LED-FM) method. We assessed the additional yield of smear positives among patients undergoing follow-up sputum examination during TB treatment before and after deploying LED-FM. Unlike at the time of diagnosis, TB patients who undergo follow-up sputum smear examination during. There is no evidence from India if use of LED-FM increases the detection of smear positives among patients undergoing follow-up sputum smear examination under routine programmatic conditions. We evaluated whether implementation of LEDFM increased the yield of smear positives during followup and discuss its programmatic implications
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