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A new interesting article has been published in Tuberculosis (Edinb). 2019 Dec; 119:101878. doi: 10.1016/j.tube.2019.101878. Epub 2019 Oct 23. and titled:

Diagnostic accuracy of molecular detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in pediatric stool samples: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Authors of this article are:

Mesman AW, Rodriguez C, Ager E, Coit J, Trevisi L, Franke MF.

A summary of the article is shown below:

BACKGROUND: Stool is a promising specimen option to diagnose pediatric tuberculosis (TB), but studies have reported a wide range of test sensitivities. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the accuracy of Xpert MTB/RIF or ‘in-house’ molecular tests on stool samples against culture or Xpert MTB/RIF on respiratory samples or clinically-diagnosed unconfirmed TB and aimed to identify factors that contribute to the heterogeneity of reported sensitivity.METHODS: We searched EMBASE and Pubmed databases and conference books for studies reporting molecular stool testing against a clinical or microbiological reference standard among children.RESULTS: We identified 16 studies that included 2,481 children in stool test analyses. Pooled specificity was 98% [95%CI: 96-99], pooled sensitivity was 57% [95%CI: 40-72] against culture and 3% [95%CI: 2-6] among children with clinically-diagnosed, unconfirmed TB. There was much heterogeneity. Sensitivity was higher among children with a smear-positive sputum test. Rifampin resistance in stool was reported in two studies and detected in 5/14 children (36%).CONCLUSION: Our results suggest molecular stool tests have potential as diagnostic rule-in tests, but it is challenging to optimize sensitivity due to between-study variation in methodology and test procedures. Therefore, we recommend future research with rigorous study design and standardized results reporting.Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Check out the article’s website on Pubmed for more information:

[link-preview url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31670064 forceshot=true]

This article is a good source of information and a good way to become familiar with topics such as: Alternative sample; Children; Review; Stool test.

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