Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease identified during community-based screening for Mycobacterium Tuberculosis: a case report

There is a rising prevalence of Non-Tuberculous Mycobacterial (NTM) disease in sub-Saharan Africa identified on culture specimens. However, distinguishing mycobacterial colonisations from infection from identified NTMs on culture in the sub-Saharan Africa setting remains to be established. A 49-year-old man presented with the cardinal symptoms of tuberculosis (TB) in a community TB prevalence survey in Blantyre, Malawi. Mycobacteriology was atypical, prompting a line probe assay which revealed Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) species. The epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) is better known than that of NTM. Up-scaling culture and speciation may be a solution to this gap in knowledge of the burden of disease of NTM. Like most resource-poor settings, TB culture is not routinely done in the diagnosis and management of TB in Malawi. Furthermore, the treatment of NTM is not analogous to that of MTBC. The multi-drug regimens used for NTM disease treatment includes a newer macrolide (azithromycin, clarithromycin), ethambutol, and rifamycin, and require prolonged durations of therapy aimed at facilitating clearance of the mycobacteria and minimizing the emergence of drug resistance. Clinicians must thus be aware of this rising burden of NTM disease and consider other diagnostic options to better investigate this disease in patients

An analysis of likes and dislikes for history and geography of 3360 sixth grade children

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit

High intrapulmonary rifampicin and isoniazid concentrations are associated with rapid sputum bacillary clearance in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis

This work was supported by a Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellowship [grant number 105392/B/14/Z to A.D.M. and L69AGB to JM]. ELC was supported by Wellcome [200901/Z/16/Z]. The Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Clinical Research Programme is supported by a strategic award from the Wellcome Trust [206545/Z/17/Z]. We also acknowledge infrastructural support for bioanalysis from the Liverpool Biomedical Research Centre funded by Liverpool Health Partners.Background Intrapulmonary pharmacokinetics may better explain response to tuberculosis (TB) treatment than plasma pharmacokinetics. We explored these relationships by modelling bacillary clearance in sputum in adult patients on first-line treatment in Malawi. Methods Bacillary elimination rates (BER) were estimated using linear mixed-effects modelling of serial time-to-positivity in mycobacterial growth indicator tubes for sputum collected during the intensive phase of treatment (weeks 0 to 8) for microbiologically confirmed TB. Population pharmacokinetic models used plasma and intrapulmonary drug levels at 8 and 16 weeks. Pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic relationships were investigated using individual-level measures of drug exposure (AUC and Cmax) for rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol, in plasma, epithelial lining fluid, and alveolar cells as covariates in the bacillary elimination models. Results Among 157 participants (58% HIV co-infected), drug exposure in plasma or alveolar cells was not associated with sputum bacillary clearance. Higher peak concentrations (Cmax) or exposure (AUC) to rifampicin or isoniazid in epithelial lining fluid was associated with more rapid bacillary elimination and shorter time to sputum negativity. More extensive disease on baseline chest radiograph was associated with slower bacillary elimination. Clinical outcome was captured in 133 participants, with 15 (11%) unfavourable outcomes recorded (recurrent TB, failed treatment, or death). No relationship between BER and late clinical outcome was identified. Conclusions Greater intrapulmonary drug exposure to rifampicin or isoniazid in the epithelial lining fluid was associated with more rapid bacillary clearance. Higher doses of rifampicin and isoniazid may result in sustained high intrapulmonary drug exposure, rapid bacillary clearance, shorter treatment duration and better treatment outcomes.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Longitudinal PKPD biomarkers correlate with treatment outcome in drug sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis; a population pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic analysis

Funding: Wellcome Trust Clinical PhD Fellowship awarded to D.S. (086757/Z/08/A). Funding for the minimum inhibitory concentration assays was provided by a grant from the British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy (GA2015_036P). F.K. has conducted the research as part of his Medical Research Council fellowship (MR/P014534/1).Background . This study aims to explore relationships between baseline demographic covariates, plasma antibiotic exposure, sputum bacillary load, and clinical outcome data to help improve future tuberculosis (TB) treatment response predictions. Methods . Data were available from a longitudinal cohort study in Malawian drug-sensitive TB patients on standard therapy, including steady-state plasma antibiotic exposure (154 patients), sputum bacillary load (102 patients), final outcome (95 patients), and clinical details. Population pharmacokinetic and pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic models were developed in the software package NONMEM. Outcome data were analyzed using univariate logistic regression and Cox proportional hazard models in R, a free software for statistical computing. Results . Higher isoniazid exposure correlated with increased bacillary killing in sputum (P < .01). Bacillary killing in sputum remained fast, with later progression to biphasic decline, in patients with higher rifampicin area under the curve (AUC)0-24 (P < .01). Serial sputum colony counting negativity at month 2 (P < .05), isoniazid CMAX (P < .05), isoniazid CMAX/minimum inhibitory concentration ([MIC] P < .01), and isoniazid AUC0-24/MIC (P < .01) correlated with treatment success but not with remaining free of TB. Slower bacillary killing (P < .05) and earlier progression to biphasic bacillary decline (P < .01) both correlate with treatment failure. Posttreatment recurrence only correlated with slower bacillary killing (P < .05). Conclusions . Patterns of early bacillary clearance matter. Static measurements such as month 2 sputum conversion and pharmacokinetic parameters such as CMAX/MIC and AUC0-24/MIC were predictive of treatment failure, but modeling of quantitative longitudinal data was required to assess the risk of recurrence. Pooled individual patient data analyses from larger datasets are needed to confirm these findings.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Optimizing outpatient serial sputum colony counting for studies of tuberculosis treatment in resource-poor settings.

Serial Sputum Colony Counting (SSCC) is an important technique in clinical trials of new treatments for tuberculosis (TB). Quantitative cultures on selective Middlebrook agar are used to calculate the rate of bacillary elimination from sputum collected from patients at different time points during the first 2 months of therapy. However, the procedure can be complicated by high sample contamination rates. This study, conducted in a resource-poor setting in Malawi, assessed the ability of different antifungal drugs in selective agar to reduce contamination. Overall, 229 samples were studied and 15% to 27% were contaminated. Fungal organisms were particularly implicated, and samples collected later in treatment were at particular risk (P < 0.001). Amphotericin B (AmB) is the standard antifungal drug used on SSCC plates at a concentration of 10 mg/ml. On selective Middlebrook 7H10 plates, AmB at 30 mg/ml reduced sample contamination by 17% compared with AmB at 10 mg/ml. The relative risk of contamination using AmB at 10 mg/ml was 1.79 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.25 to 3.55). On Middlebrook 7H11 plates, a combination of AmB at 10 mg/ml and carbendazim at 50 mg/ml was associated with 10% less contamination than AmB at 30 mg/ml. The relative risk of contamination with AmB at 30 mg/ml was 1.79 (95% CI, 1.01 to 3.17). Improved antifungal activity was accompanied by a small reduction in bacillary counts, but this did not affect modeling of bacillary elimination. In conclusion, a combination of AmB and carbendazim optimized the antifungal activity of selective media for growth of TB. We recommend this method to reduce contamination rates and improve SSCC studies in African countries where the burden of TB is highest