Are three sputum acid-fast bacillus smears necessary for discontinuing tuberculosis isolation?
To evaluate the efficacy of three sputum acid-fast bacillus (AFB) smears to rule out pulmonary tuberculosis, sputum AFB smear and culture results were analyzed at two university-affiliated teaching hospitals. The negative predictive value of the smear increased by only 0.2% on days 2 and 3 each, indicating that in low-prevalence populations, there is limited value in requiring three negative sputum AFB smears before discontinuing tuberculosis isolation.
Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, USA. phillip.mathew@mdsps.com
Philip
P
Mathew
Yen-Hong
YH
Kuo
Bindu
B
Vazirani
Robert H K
RH
Eng
Melvin P
MP
Weinstein
D003470:Culture Media; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009515:New Jersey; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology
D003470:Culture Media