Study about Tuberculosis in Thailand: An approach to Treatment, GIS and Sichon Model

In this study, we seek to identify geographical areas where ongoing tuberculosis epidemiological characteristics is occurring by linking Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology in Thailand. In addition, we seek to assess how the directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) program improved new tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment successes in Sichon District, Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand from 2014 to 2016. The assessment program included seven indicators, and the results revealed that 73 new cases of tuberculosis were admitted for treatment on average every year, with rates of risk group screening findings of 4.28, 5.23, and 6.04 %, respectively. Patients who come to the hospital for diagnosis make up most of the demographic. However, only a minor proportion of patients are identified through community-based primary screening. In the years 2013-2016, the mortality rate of TB cases is expected to rise by 10.25 %, 4.25 %, and 5.56 %, respectively. The elderly and HIV-positive patients comprise most of the TB mortality population. When completing the DOTS program at a hospital, however, the rate of success has fallen short of the targets. Furthermore, the screening technique excludes the target group. As a result, people suffering tuberculosis are reported to be slower and more susceptible to symptoms. As a result, researchers advise that the DOTS program be supported by enhancing treatment follow-up to improve the effectiveness of TB treatment and collaboration with health care worker (HCW).

Pulmonary tuberculosis diagnosis, differentiation and disease management: A review of radiomics applications

Pulmonary tuberculosis is a worldwide epidemic that can only be fought effectively with early and accurate diagnosis and proper disease management. The means of diagnosis and disease management should be easily accessible, cost effective and be readily available in the high tuberculosis burdened countries where it is most needed. Fortunately, the fast development of computer science in recent years has ensured that medical images can accurately be quantified. Radiomics is one such tool that can be used to quantify medical images. This review article focuses on the literature currently available on the application of radiomics explicitly for the purpose of diagnosis, differentiation from other pulmonary diseases and disease management of pulmonary tuberculosis. Despite using a formal search strategy, only five articles could be found on the application of radiomics to pulmonary tuberculosis. In all five articles reviewed, radiomic feature extraction was successfully used to quantify digital medical images for the purpose of comparing, or differentiating, pulmonary tuberculosis from other pulmonary diseases. This demonstrates that the use of radiomics for the purpose of tuberculosis disease management and diagnosis remains a valuable data mining opportunity not yet realised.

Evaluation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific IFN-γ, TNF-α, CXCL10, IL2, CCL2, CCL7 and CCL4 levels for active tuberculosis diagnosis

Our study evaluates seven previously reported biomarkers for active tuberculosis (ATB) diagnosis. We compared Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific IFN-γ, TNF-α, CXCL10, IL2, CCL2, CCL7 and CCL4 levels in patients with ATB and non-tuberculosis respiratory diseases. Our ATB group included equal numbers of patients with positive and negative QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) results, to assess whether any biomarker offered superior diagnostic accuracy to IFN-γ. No biomarker achieved higher sensitivity than QFT-GIT for ATB diagnosis without significant loss of specificity. Our study design provides an efficient strategy for rapidly gating future biomarkers by using clinically relevant and representative patient groups in whom current QFT-GIT tests fail.

More on search for causes of sensitization to tuberculin PPD for mammals in cattle

Despite the large number of papers dealing with the description of proposed methods for bovine tuberculosis diagnosis and mechanisms of non-specific reaction development in diseased and healthy animals, various aspects require further study. Many specialists are still of the view, formulated when studying causes of pseudoallergic reactions, that the agents of actinomycosis, trematode infections etc. can cause sensitization of the animal body to tuberculin PPD for mammals. The possibility of sensitization of cattle body to Аctinomyces bovis tuberculin was studied in 240 animals identified as actinomycosis diseased among 3,473 tested animals. Only 11 (4.6%) of the total number of diseased animals were reactors to tuberculin PPD for mammals. During bacteriological tests of material from animals euthanized for diagnostic purposes (tuberculin reactors and nonreactors with a confirmed postmortem diagnosis of actinomycosis), acid-tolerant nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) cultures were isolated. The results of the experiment conducted in 628 cows of a dairy holding confirmed that Actinomyces bovis lacks tuberculin-associated allergenicity: actinomycosis was detected only in one of 96 (15.2%) tuberculin reactors. The conducted clinical tests with high significance level (Р < 0.005) showed that there is no association between allergic reaction to tuberculin PPD for mammals and actinomycosis infection. The obtained results are indicative of imperfections in differential diagnosis, and further studies in this field should significantly contribute to gaining a better insight into non-specific sensitization of cattle body to tuberculin.

The Early Years – Intervention and Prevention (Vol. 25, No. 11, Full Issue)

For the month of November 2021, APBN questions the argument of nature versus nurture and the importance of early intervention. In Features, we have a special contribution by Dr. Salam Soliman on how we can heal childhood trauma through dyadic relationship-based interventions. In Columns, we dive into Italy's contagion data with Dr. Galileo Violini and consider if there is a connection between Italy's R-value and vaccination rate. Finally, in Spotlights, we have an interview with Ruby E Dewi from MediLux Biosciences to share about the prevalence of tuberculosis in Asia and how the company's novel dye would be a gamechanger for tuberculosis diagnosis.