Female genital tuberculosis: a clinical lecture

The problem of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPT) remains urgent since, along with a decrease in the incidence of the disease, there is an increase in the number of neglected, late diagnosed cases. Female genital tuberculosis (FGT) is a relatively rare disease difficult to diagnose, occurring on average in 0.52.0 cases per 100,000 population; in recent years, an increase of EPT in this localization has been observed. Tuberculosis can affect any organ of the female genital system, either single or in combination. The most frequently involved are the tubes (95100%), endometrium (5060%), ovaries (2030%), cervix (515%), myometrium (2.5%) and vagina/vulva (1%). The most common symptom of FGT that makes patients seek medical advice is infertility. Other symptoms of FGT include menstrual irregularities (oligo-, hypo-, dis-, amenorrhoea as well as meno- and metrorrhagia), pelvic pain, and abnormal vaginal discharge. In postmenopausal women, FGT is characterized by symptoms resembling endometrial malignancy, such as postmenopausal bleeding, persistent leukorrhea, and pyometra. The diagnosis is based on a thorough history, clinical examination, and proper examination of the sample material obtained by endoscopy. Tuberculin test with intradermal injection of 2 TU of tuberculin (Mantoux test) was positive in 42.6% of patients with genital tuberculosis. Hysterosalpingography is an important method for diagnosing FGT, which assesses the internal structure of the female reproductive tract and the patency of the fallopian tubes. On ultrasound, the fallopian tubes may appear dilated, thickened, or filled with serous discharge (hydrosalpinx) or caseous mass (pyosalpinx). Laparoscopy and dye hydrotubation are reliable tools for the diagnosis of genital tuberculosis, especially for the involvement of the fallopian tubes, ovaries, and peritoneum. Microbiological examination of sampled material in FGT using solid media is low-informative; polymerase chain reaction and other molecular diagnostic methods should be used. It should be acknowledged that FGT is not a rare condition, but it is often overlooked. The two main reasons for late diagnosis are vague clinical signs and low alertness. Since infertility is a frequent complication of FGT, all infertile women should be screened for tuberculosis: tuberculin, ultrasound, hysterosalpingography, and in complicated cases, diagnostic laparoscopy with obligatory tissue sampling for pathomorphological and microbiological studies

The role of nutraceuticals and phytotherapy in the management of urinary tract infections: What we need to know?

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) are amongst the most common infectious diseases and carry a significant impact on patient quality of life and health care costs. Despite that, there is no well-established recommendation for a "standard" prophylactic antibiotic management to prevent UTI recurrences. The majority of patients undergoes long-term antibiotic treatment that severely impairs the normal microbiota and increases the risk of development of multidrugresistant microorganisms. In this scenario, the use of phytotherapy to both alleviate symptoms related to UTI and decrease the rate of symptomatic recurrences is an attractive alternative. Several recently published papers report conflicting findings and cannot give confident recommendations for the everyday clinical practice. A new approach to the management of patients with recurrent UTI might be to use nutraceuticals or phytotherapy after an accurate assessment of the patient`s risk factors. No single compound or mixture has been identified so far as the best preventive approach in patients with recurrent UTI. We reviewed our non-antibiotic approach to the management of recurrent UTI patients in order to clarify the evidence-base for the commonly used substances, understand their pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in order to tailor the best way to improve patient's quality of life and reduce the rate of antibiotic resistance. Lack of a gold-standard recommendation and the risk of increasing antibiotic resistance is the reason why we need alternatives to antibiotics in the management of urinary tract infections (UTIs). A tailored approach according to bacterial characteristics and the patient risk factors profile is a promising option

Best practice in the diagnosis and management of urogenital tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) is a current public health problem, remaining the most common worldwide cause of mortality from infectious diseases. Urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) is the second most common form of extrapulmonary TB in countries with severe epidemic situations and the third most common form in regions with a low incidence of TB. In this article we present the terminology, epidemiology and classification of UGTB, as well as describing the laboratory findings and clinical features and approaches to chemotherapy as well as surgery

Diseases masking and delaying the diagnosis of urogenital tuberculosis

As urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) has no specific clinical features, it is often overlooked. To identify some of the reasons for misdiagnosing UGTB we performed a systematic review. We searched in Medline/PubMed papers with keywords ‘urogenital tuberculosis, rare’ and ‘urogenital tuberculosis, unusual’. ‘Urogenital tuberculosis, rare’ presented 230 articles and ‘urogenital tuberculosis, unusual’ presented 81 articles only, a total of 311 papers. A total of 34 papers were duplicated and so were excluded from the review. In addition, we excluded from the analysis 33 papers on epidemiological studies and literature reviews, papers describing non-TB cases and cases of TB another than urogenital organs (48 articles), cases of congenital TB (three articles), UGTB as a case of concomitant disease (16 articles), and UGTB as a complication of BCG-therapy (eight articles). We also excluded 22 articles dedicated to complications of the therapy, which made a total of 164 articles. Among the remaining 147 articles we selected 43 which described really unusual, difficult to diagnose cases. We also included in our review a WHO report from 2014, and one scientific monograph on TB urology. The most frequent reasons for delayed diagnosis were absence typical clinical features of UGTB, and the tendency of UGTB to hide behind the mask of another disease. We can conclude that actually UGTB is not rare disease, but it is often an overlooked disease. The main reasons for delayed diagnosis are vague, atypical clinical features and a low index of suspicion

Urogenital tuberculosis, the cause of ineffective antibacterial therapy for urinary tract infections

Background: Urogenital tuberculosis (UGTB) is one of the great imitators; it is commonly masked by urinary tract infections (UTIs). We aimed to estimate how many UGTB patients were among patients with a long history of UTIs. Material and Methods: A total of 244 patients with recurrent UTIs and suspected UGTB were enrolled in an open, noncomparative prospective study. Their urine and expressed prostate secretion or ejaculate were cultured (a total of 1446 samples), and 421 isolates with growth of ⩾10 4 colony-forming units (CFU)/ml were investigated for drug resistance. Typically, UGTB diagnosis is made by individual case. Results: All 244 patients had a long history of recurrent UTIs (on average, 7.9 ± 3.4 years); all received at least five courses of antibacterial therapy without good result. UGTB was diagnosed in 63 (25.8%), and in 41 of these (65.1%), there was comorbidity of UTI and UGTB. Of 1446 samples investigated, 421 (29.1%) were positive, and 1025 were negative. Escherichia coli was found in 57.3% of gram-negative microflora and in 29.0% only among all uropathogens. E. coli was resistant to amoxicillin/clavulanate in 51.5–57.1%, to cefotaxime in 50.0–52.0%, to gentamycin in 33.3–59.5%, to ciprofloxacin in 63.2–66.7%, to levofloxacin in 54.8–45.2%, and to nitrofurantoin in 23.5–20.8% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. If, in 2015, all isolates of E. coli were susceptible to imipenem, in 2016, 7.1% of strains were resistant to this antibiotic. Level of drug-resistance was higher in 2016, excluding only levofloxacin and nitrofurantoin. Conclusions: Total prevalence of UGTB among UTI patients with poor results of antibacterial therapy was 25.8%. Comorbidity of UTI and UGTB was diagnosed in 65.1%

International Conference “Urogenital Infections and Tuberculosis” in Novosibirsk, Russia, Has Opened New Perspectives in the Fight against Tuberculosis

The first International Conference “Urogenital Infections and Tuberculosis” was held in Novosibirsk 24–26 October 2013. Three hundred and twelve delegates from 73 cities in 16 countries took part in the conference. Actual problems of urogenital tract infection (UTI) including tuberculosis (TB) as a specific infection were discussed, including: nosocomial infections in urology, various aspects of prostate biopsy, epidemiology and diagnosis of urogenital tuberculosis, gender and age related characteristics of urinary tract infections, and male infertility, etc

Diagnosis and therapy for prostate tuberculosis

In its 2012 global report on tuberculosis, the World Health Organization estimated that 3–7% (range 2.1–5.2%) of new cases and 20% (range 13–26%) of previously treated cases had multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (defined as tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates that are resistant to rifampicin and isoniazid). In many countries in Eastern Europe and central Asia, 9–32% of new patients and more than 50% of previously treated patients have multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Ninety-three patients with suspected prostate tuberculosis were enrolled in this study and all underwent prostate biopsy. This method allowed confirmation of diagnosis in 32 patients (34.4%): 23 by histology, six by culture and five by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (among them, two also had positive culture). The efficiency of an optimized scheme for the therapy of prostate tuberculosis (the second part of the study) was estimated in 53 patients. The first group (25 patients) was treated with a standard scheme of chemotherapy; the second group (28 prostate tuberculosis patients) received ofloxacin in addition for 2 months during the intensive phase. The phase continuation in both groups was identical, with rifampicin and isoniazid administered for 6 months. Optimization of the standard therapy by additional administration of ofloxacin improved results of the treatment in 33.8% of patients