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Comparison of GeneXpert cycle threshold values with smear microscopy and culture as a measure of mycobacterial burden in five regional referral hospitals of Uganda- A cross-sectional study

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Date
15/05/2019
Author
Najjingo, Irene
Muttamba, Winters
Kirenga, Bruce J
Nalunjogi, Joanitah
Bakesiima, Ritah
Olweny, Francis
Lusiba, Pastan
Katamba, Achilles
Joloba, Moses
Ssengooba, Willy
Keywords
Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Cost of illness
Cross-sectional studies
Female
Humans
Male
Middle aged
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, multidrug-resistant/diagnosis
Tuberculosis, pulmonary/diagnosis
Uganda/epidemiology
QR Microbiology
RA0421 Public health. Hygiene. Preventive Medicine
DAS
Metadata
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Abstract
Background: Determining mycobacterial burden is important in assessing severity of disease, evaluating infectiousness and predicting patient treatment outcomes. Mycobacterial burden assessed by smear microscopy grade and time to culture positivity is clearly interpretable by most physicians. GeneXpert (Xpert) has been recommended by WHO as a first line tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic test as an alternative to smear microscopy. Xpert gives cycle threshold (Ct) values as a potential measure for mycobacterial burden. For physicians to clearly interpret Ct values as measures of mycobacterial burden, this study compared the Xpert quantification capabilities with those of smear microscopy and culture. The study also determined a linear relationship between Xpert Ct values and MGIT culture time to positivity (MGIT-TTP) and associated factors. A cut off Ct value which best predicts smear positivity was also determined using the Receiver Operator Curve analysis method. Results: Excluding missing results and rifampicin resistant TB cases, a moderately strong correlation of 0.55 between Xpert Ct value and smear grade was obtained. A weak correlation of 0.37 was obtained between Xpert Ct values and MGIT time to positivity while that between Xpert Ct values and LJ culture was 0.34. The Xpert Ct values were found to increase by 2.57 for every unit increase in days to positive and HIV status was significantly associated with this relationship. A cut off Ct value of 23.62 was found to best predict smear positivity regardless of HIV status. Conclusion: Our study findings show that GeneXpert Ct values are comparable to smear microscopy as a measure of M. tuberculosis burden and can be used to replace smear microscopy. However, given the low correlation between Xpert Ct value and culture positivity, Xpert Ct values cannot replace culture as a measure of M. tuberculosis burden among TB patients.
Citation
Najjingo , I , Muttamba , W , Kirenga , B J , Nalunjogi , J , Bakesiima , R , Olweny , F , Lusiba , P , Katamba , A , Joloba , M & Ssengooba , W 2019 , ' Comparison of GeneXpert cycle threshold values with smear microscopy and culture as a measure of mycobacterial burden in five regional referral hospitals of Uganda- A cross-sectional study ' , PLoS ONE , vol. 14 , no. 5 , e0216901 . https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216901
Publication
PLoS ONE
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0216901
ISSN
1932-6203
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright: © 2019 Najjingo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Description
Funding: This research was funded by MakCHS–UCBerkeley-Yale Pulmonary Complications of AIDS Research Training program however initial data was obtained from the East African Public Health Laboratory Networking (EAPHLN) Project which was funded by the World Bank. This research was also funded by the Office of AIDS Research (US) NIH D43TW009607 to IN.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/21701

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