Upper gastrointestinal endoscopic findings and prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection among adult patients with dyspepsia in northern Tanzania

 Dyspepsia is a common presenting complaint of various upper gastrointestinal disorders. The symptoms of causes of dyspepsia often overlap and this makes etiological diagnosis difficult. Endoscopy is the ideal procedure for identifying organic diseases of the foregut. Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with various upper gastrointestinal pathologies. A cross-sectional study was conducted to determine endoscopic findings and H. pylori status in two hundred and eight consecutive dyspeptic adult patients between June 2009 and April 2010 at Kilimanjaro Christian medical Centre, a referral and teaching hospital in northern Tanzania. The most commonly identified endoscopic findings were gastritis (61.10%), Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) (57%), and Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) (24.1%). Gastric cancer was identified in 6.7 % of patients and all of them were aged 40 years and above (p=0.00). H. pylori infection was detected in 65% (n=130) of patients. H. pylori infection was present in 57% (n=24) of patients who were tested within six months after eradication therapy. Gastritis and duodenal ulcer were statistically significantly associated with H. pylori (p<0.001). No association was found between GERD and H. pylori infection (p>0.05). Gastritis, GERD, and PUD are the leading causes of dyspepsia. H. pylori infection is present in significant proportion of dyspeptic patients.  Patients with Gastritis and PUD should undergo empirical eradication therapy if a confirmatory test is not available.  Patients with dyspepsia who are over 40 years of age should undergo Endoscopy (EGD) for initial work up. Study on antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of H. pylori is recommended to guide choices for evidence based treatment option

Evaluation of XpertMTB/Rif performance for diagnosis of tuberculosis among HIV positive patients in northern Tanzania

Background: Diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) in patients co-infected with HIV poses an important challenge since they are usually smear negative for pulmonary TB. The reason for this is the low sensitivity and specificity of microscopy as the standard diagnostic method. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the XpertMTB/Rif tool for TB diagnosis among TB-HIV co-infected patients in order to characterize TB features in HIV co-infections. The study assessed the sensitivity, specificity and positive and negative predictive values of XpertMTB/Rif for TB detection in symptomatic and asymptomatic patients.Methods: This was a cross-sectional analytical study involving 69 patients as study participants. Demographic, clinical, laboratory and radiological data were collected. The performance of the XpertMTB/RIF and microscopy using LJ culture as a gold standard were determined and compared.Results: XpertMTB/Rif had a higher sensitivity (100%), specificity (100%), PPV (79.2%) and NPV (98.9%) as compared to microscopy. There was a strong correlation between XpertMTB/Rif, LJ culture and Microscopy in terms of their sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion:  While using TB symptoms screening tool alone in HIV infected individuals may result into overtreatment, relying on microscopy alone has the potential of TB under-diagnosing, miss-diagnosing and delayed treatment. Our results show XpertMTB/Rif to be highly sensitive and specific to detect all culture positive TB cases among HIV patients. We recommend the adoption of XpertMTB/Rif as an early TB diagnosis tool among HIV patients for early detection of TB among HIV patients

Diagnosis and Interim Treatment Outcomes from the First Cohort of Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis Patients in Tanzania.

Kibong'oto National Tuberculosis Hospital (KNTH), Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Characterize the diagnostic process and interim treatment outcomes from patients treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) in Tanzania. A retrospective cohort study was performed among all patients treated at KNTH for pulmonary MDR-TB between November 2009 and September 2011. Sixty-one culture-positive MDR-TB patients initiated therapy, 60 (98%) with a prior history of TB treatment. Forty-one (67%) were male and 9 (14%) were HIV infected with a mean CD4 count of 424 (±106) cells/µl. The median time from specimen collection to MDR-TB diagnosis and from diagnosis to initiation of MDR-TB treatment was 138 days (IQR 101-159) and 131 days (IQR 32-233), respectively. Following treatment initiation four (7%) patients died (all HIV negative), 3 (5%) defaulted, and the remaining 54 (89%) completed the intensive phase. Most adverse drug reactions were mild to moderate and did not require discontinuation of treatment. Median time to culture conversion was 2 months (IQR 1-3) and did not vary by HIV status. In 28 isolates available for additional second-line drug susceptibility testing, fluoroquinolone, aminoglycoside and para-aminosalicylic acid resistance was rare yet ethionamide resistance was present in 9 (32%). The majority of MDR-TB patients from this cohort had survived a prolonged referral process, had multiple episodes of prior TB treatment, but did not have advanced AIDS and converted to culture negative early while completing an intensive inpatient regimen without serious adverse event. Further study is required to determine the clinical impact of second-line drug susceptibility testing and the feasibility of alternatives to prolonged hospitalization

Model-based relationship between the molecular bacterial load assay and time-to-positivity in liquid culture

The molecular bacterial load (MBL) assay is a new tuberculosis biomarker which provides results in ∼4 hours. The relationship between MBL and time-to-positivity (TTP) has not been thoroughly studied and predictive models do not exist. We aimed to develop a model for MBL and identify the MBL-TTP relationship in patients. The model was developed on data from 105 tuberculosis patients from Malawi, Mozambique and Tanzania with joint MBL and TTP observations quantified from patient sputum collected for 12 weeks. MBL was quantified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of mycobacterial RNA and TTP using the Mycobacterial Growth Indicator Tube (MGIT) 960 system. Treatment consisted of isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol in standard doses together with rifampicin 10 or 35 mg/kg. The developed MBL-TTP model included several linked sub-models; a component describing decline of bacterial load in sputum, another component describing growth in liquid culture and a hazard model translating bacterial growth into a TTP signal. Additional components for contaminated and negative TTP samples were included. Visual predictive checks performed using the developed model gave good description of the observed data. The model predicted greater total sample loss for TTP than MBL due to contamination and negative samples. The model detected an increase in bacterial killing for 35 versus 10 mg/kg rifampicin (p=0.002). In conclusion, a combined model for MBL and TTP was developed that described the MBL-TTP relationship. The full MBL-TTP model or each sub-model used separately. Secondly, the model can be used to predict biomarker response for MBL given TTP data or vice versa in historical or future trials.PostprintPeer reviewe

Comparison of Overnight Pooled and Standard Sputum Collection Method for Patients with Suspected Pulmonary Tuberculosis in Northern Tanzania.

In Tanzania sputum culture for tuberculosis (TB) is resource intensive and available only at zonal facilities. In this study overnight pooled sputum collection technique was compared with standard spot morning collection among pulmonary TB suspects at Kibong'oto National TB Hospital in Tanzania. A spot sputum specimen performed at enrollment, an overnight pooled sputum, and single morning specimen were collected from 50 subjects and analyzed for quality, quantity, and time to detection in Bactec MGIT system. Forty-six (92%) subjects' overnight pooled specimens had a volume ≥5 mls compared to 37 (37%) for the combination of spot and single morning specimens (P < 0.001). Median time to detection was 96 hours (IQR 87-131) for the overnight pooled specimens compared to 110.5 hours (IQR is 137 right 137-180) for the combination of both spot and single morning specimens (P = 0.001). In our setting of limited TB culture capacity, we recommend a single pooled sputum to maximize yield and speed time to diagnosis

M. tuberculosis genotypic diversity and drug susceptibility pattern in HIV- infected and non-HIV-infected patients in northern Tanzania

Contains fulltext : 53004.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem and HIV is the major cause of the increase in TB. Sub-Saharan Africa is endemic for both TB and HIV infection. Determination of the prevalence of M. tuberculosis strains and their drug susceptibility is important for TB control.TB positive culture, BAL fluid or sputum samples from 130 patients were collected and genotyped. The spoligotypes were correlated with anti-tuberculous drug susceptibility in HIV-infected and non-HIV patients from Tanzania. RESULTS: One-third of patients were TB/HIV co-infected. Forty-seven spoligotypes were identified.Fourteen isolates (10.8%) had new and unique spoligotypes while 116 isolates (89.2%) belonged to 33 known spoligotypes. The major spoligotypes contained nine clusters: CAS1-Kili 30.0%, LAM11- ZWE 14.6%, ND 9.2%, EAI 6.2%, Beijing 5.4%, T-undefined 4.6%, CAS1-Delhi 3.8%, T1 3.8% and LAM9 3.8%. Twelve (10.8%) of the 111 phenotypically tested strains were resistant to anti-TB drugs. Eight (7.2%) were monoresistant strains: 7 to isoniazid (INH) and one to streptomycin. Four strains (3.5%) were resistant to multiple drugs: one (0.9%) was resistant to INH and streptomycin and the other three (2.7%) were MDR strains: one was resistant to INH, rifampicin and ethambutol and two were resistant to all four anti-TB drugs. Mutation in the katG gene codon 315 and the rpoB hotspot region showed a low and high sensitivity, respectively, as predictor of phenotypic drug resistance. CONCLUSION: CAS1-Kili and LAM11-ZWE were the most common families. Strains of the Beijing family and CAS1-Kili were not or least often associated with resistance, respectively. HIV status was not associated with spoligotypes, resistance or previous TB treatment

A new trial design to accelerate tuberculosis drug development : the Phase IIC Selection Trial with Extended Post-treatment follow-up (STEP)

The PanACEA consortium was funded by the European Developing Country Partnership through grants IP.2007.32011.011, IP.2007.32011.012, and IP.2007.32011.013. PN is supported by the NIAID of the National Institutes of Health (R01AI104589) and the TBTC. KED is supported by NIAID/NID (R01AI111992) and the TBTC.Background The standard 6-month four-drug regimen for the treatment of drug-sensitive tuberculosis has remained unchanged for decades and is inadequate to control the epidemic. Shorter, simpler regimens are urgently needed to defeat what is now the world’s greatest infectious disease killer. Methods We describe the Phase IIC Selection Trial with Extended Post-treatment follow-up (STEP) as a novel hybrid phase II/III trial design to accelerate regimen development. In the Phase IIC STEP trial, the experimental regimen is given for the duration for which it will be studied in phase III (presently 3 or 4 months) and patients are followed for clinical outcomes of treatment failure and relapse for a total of 12 months from randomisation. Operating characteristics of the trial design are explored assuming a classical frequentist framework as well as a Bayesian framework with flat and sceptical priors. A simulation study is conducted using data from the RIFAQUIN phase III trial to illustrate how such a design could be used in practice. Results With 80 patients per arm, and two (2.5 %) unfavourable outcomes in the STEP trial, there is a probability of 0.99 that the proportion of unfavourable outcomes in a potential phase III trial would be less than 12 % and a probability of 0.91 that the proportion of unfavourable outcomes would be less than 8 %. With six (7.5 %) unfavourable outcomes, there is a probability of 0.82 that the proportion of unfavourable outcomes in a potential phase III trial would be less than 12 % and a probability of 0.41 that it would be less than 8 %. Simulations using data from the RIFAQUIN trial show that a STEP trial with 80 patients per arm would have correctly shown that the Inferior Regimen should not proceed to phase III and would have had a high chance (0.88) of either showing that the Successful Regimen could proceed to phase III or that it might require further optimisation. Conclusions Collection of definitive clinical outcome data in a relatively small number of participants over only 12 months provides valuable information about the likelihood of success in a future phase III trial. We strongly believe that the STEP trial design described herein is an important tool that would allow for more informed decision-making and accelerate regimen development.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

A functional genomics approach in Tanzanian population identifies distinct genetic regulators of cytokine production compared to European population

Humans exhibit remarkable interindividual and interpopulation immune response variability upon microbial challenges. Cytokines play a vital role in regulating inflammation and immune responses, but dysregulation of cytokine responses has been implicated in different disease states. Host genetic factors were previously shown to significantly impact cytokine response heterogeneity mainly in European-based studies, but it is unclear whether these findings are transferable to non-European individuals. Here, we aimed to identify genetic variants modulating cytokine responses in healthy adults of East African ancestry from Tanzania. We leveraged both cytokine and genetic data and performed genome-wide cytokine quantitative trait loci (cQTLs) mapping. The results were compared with another cohort of healthy adults of Western European ancestry via direct overlap and functional enrichment analyses. We also performed meta-analyses to identify cQTLs with congruent effect direction in both populations. In the Tanzanians, cQTL mapping identified 80 independent suggestive loci and one genome-wide significant locus (TBC1D22A) at chromosome 22; SNP rs12169244 was associated with IL-1b release after Salmonella enteritidis stimulation. Remarkably, the identified cQTLs varied significantly when compared to the European cohort, and there was a very limited percentage of overlap (1.6% to 1.9%). We further observed ancestry-specific pathways regulating induced cytokine responses, and there was significant enrichment of the interferon pathway specifically in the Tanzanians. Furthermore, contrary to the Europeans, genetic variants in the TLR10-TLR1-TLR6 locus showed no effect on cytokine response. Our data reveal both ancestry-specific effects of genetic variants and pathways on cytokine response heterogeneity, hence arguing for the importance of initiatives to include diverse populations into genomics research

Protocol for a feasibility randomized controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy, safety and tolerability of N-acetylcysteine in reducing adverse drug reactions among adults treated for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Tanzania

Funding: This study receives financial supports from the European and Developed Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP2) program supported by the European Union project through the Senior Fellowship Scheme TMA1463 awarded to Stellah G Mpagama.Background Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) frequently occur in patients using second-line anti-tuberculosis medicine for treatment of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). ADRs contribute to treatment interruptions which can compromise treatment response and risk acquired drug resistance to critical newer drugs such as bedaquiline, while severe ADRs carry considerable morbidity and mortality. N-acetylcysteine (NAC) has shown promise in reducing ADRs for medications related to TB in case series or randomized controlled trials in other medical conditions, yet evidence is lacking in MDR-TB patients. TB endemic settings have limited capacity to conduct clinical trials. We designed a proof-of-concept clinical trial primarily to explore the preliminary evidence on the protective effect of NAC among people treated for MDR-TB with second-line anti-TB medications. Methods This is a proof-of-concept randomized open label clinical trial with 3 treatment arms including a control arm, an interventional arm of NAC 900 mg daily, and an interventional arm of NAC 900 mg twice-daily administered during the intensive phase of MDR-TB treatment. Patients initiating MDR-TB treatment will be enrolled at Kibong’oto National Center of Excellence for MDR-TB in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. The minimum anticipated sample size is 66; with 22 participants in each arm. ADR monitoring will be performed at baseline and daily follow-up over 24 weeks including blood and urine specimen collection for hepatic and renal function and electrolyte abnormalities, and electrocardiogram. Sputum will be collected at baseline and monthly thereafter and cultured for mycobacteria as well as assayed for other molecular targets of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Adverse drug events will be analysed over time using mixed effect models. Mean differences between arms in change of the ADRs from baseline (with 95% confidence intervals) will be derived from the fitted model. Discussion Given that NAC promotes synthesis of glutathione, an intracellular antioxidant that combats the impact of oxidative stress, it may protect against medication induced oxidative damage in organs such as liver, pancreas, kidney, and cells of the immune system. This randomized controlled trial will determine if NAC leads to fewer ADRs, and if this protection is dose dependent. Fewer ADRs among patients treated with MDR-TB may significantly improve treatment outcomes for multidrug regimens that necessitate prolonged treatment durations. Conduct of this trial will set the needed infrastructure for clinical trials.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Effect of seven anti-tuberculosis treatment regimens on sputum microbiome : a retrospective analysis of the HIGHRIF study 2 and PanACEA MAMS-TB clinical trials

Funding: European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership and German Ministry of Education and Research.Background Respiratory tract microbiota has been described as the gatekeeper for respiratory health. We aimed to assess the impact of standard-of-care and experimental anti-tuberculosis treatment regimens on the respiratory microbiome and implications for treatment outcomes. Methods In this retrospective study, we analysed the sputum microbiome of participants with tuberculosis treated with six experimental regimens versus standard-of-care who were part of the HIGHRIF study 2 (NCT00760149 ) and PanACEA MAMS-TB (NCT01785186 ) clinical trials across a 3-month treatment follow-up period. Samples were from participants in Mbeya, Kilimanjaro, Bagamoyo, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Experimental regimens were composed of different combinations of rifampicin (R), isoniazid (H), pyrazinamide (Z), ethambutol (E), moxifloxacin (M), and a new drug, SQ109 (Q). Reverse transcription was used to create complementary DNA for each participant's total sputum RNA and the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced using the Illumina metagenomic technique. Qiime was used to analyse the amplicon sequence variants and estimate alpha diversity. Descriptive statistics were applied to assess differences in alpha diversity pre-treatment and post-treatment initiation and the effect of each treatment regimen. Findings Sequence data were obtained from 397 pre-treatment and post-treatment samples taken between Sept 26, 2008, and June 30, 2015, across seven treatment regimens. Pre-treatment microbiome (206 genera) was dominated by Firmicutes (2860 [44%] of 6500 amplicon sequence variants [ASVs]) at the phylum level and Streptococcus (2340 [36%] ASVs) at the genus level. Two regimens had a significant depressing effect on the microbiome after 2 weeks of treatment, HR20mg/kgZM (Shannon diversity index p=0·0041) and HR35mg/kgZE (p=0·027). Gram-negative bacteria were the most sensitive to bactericidal activity of treatment with the highest number of species suppressed being under the moxifloxacin regimen. By week 12 after treatment initiation, microbiomes had recovered to pre-treatment level except for the HR35mg/kgZE regimen and for genus Mycobacterium, which did not show recovery across all regimens. Tuberculosis culture conversion to negative by week 8 of treatment was associated with clearance of genus Neisseria, with a 98% reduction of the pre-treatment level. Interpretation HR20mg/kgZM was effective against tuberculosis without limiting microbiome recovery, which implies a shorter efficacious anti-tuberculosis regimen with improved treatment outcomes might be achieved without harming the commensal microbiota.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe