title: Diagnosis of sputum-scarce HIV-associated pulmonary tuberculosis in Lima, Peru.
abstract: Sputum induction, bronchoalveolar lavage, or gastric aspiration are often needed to produce adequate diagnostic respiratory samples from people with HIV in whom tuberculosis is suspected. Since these procedures are rarely appropriate in less-developed countries, we compared the performances of a simple string test and the gold-standard sputum induction. 160 HIV-positive adults under investigation for tuberculosis, and 52 asymptomatic HIV-positive control patients underwent the string test followed by sputum induction. The string test detected tuberculosis in 14 patients in whom this disease was suspected; sputum induction detected only eight of them (McNemar's test, p=0.03). These preliminary data suggest that the string test is safe and effective for retrieval of useful clinical specimens for diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, and is at least as sensitive as sputum induction.
authors.affiliation: Asociación Benéfica Proyectos en Informática, Salud, Medicina, y Agricultura, Lima, Peru.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vargas
authors.forename: Luis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Robert H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Gilman
authors.forename: Carlton
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: Eduardo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ticona
authors.forename: Marcos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Navincopa
authors.forename: Robert F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.forename: Luz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Caviedes
authors.forename: Clemens
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Rod
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Escombe
authors.forename: David A J
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Moore
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D000328:Adult; D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D002214:Capsules; D003679:Deglutition; D003906:Developing Countries; D006679:HIV Seropositivity; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D010568:Peru; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D002214:Capsules