title: Mycobacterial contamination of bronchoscopes: Challenges and possible solutions in low resource settings.
abstract: The use of bronchoscopes has increased in tuberculosis (TB) diagnostics to circumvent the diagnostic challenges that are associated with low sputum volume and smear-negative TB. In healthcare facilities situated in low income countries that have a high burden of TB, adequate decontamination of bronchoscopes is a challenge and often overlooked to save on time and costs. This amplifies the risk of outbreaks and pseudo-outbreaks due to Mycobacterium tuberculosis and nontuberculosis mycobacteria. In this minireview, we review published literature of contaminated bronchoscopes causing pseudo-outbreaks of M. tuberculosis and nontuberculosis mycobacteria in an effort to determine common sources, and possible mitigation strategies in low-resource settings.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Dania Khalid
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Saeed
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Sadia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shakoor
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Seema
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Irfan
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. Electronic address: rumina.hasan@aku.edu.
authors.forename: Rumina
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hasan
mesh_terms: D020680:Bronchoscopes / Q000382:microbiology*; D004196:Disease Outbreaks; D004866:Equipment Contamination; D006801:Humans; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology
keywords: Contaminated bronchoscopes; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Non-tuberculosis mycobacteria; Pseudo-outbreaks