J E Stout

..HIV infection and foreign birth are increasingly associated with tuberculosis and understanding their effect on the clinical presentation of tuberculosis is important...

..Community-based screening for TB, combined with HIV and syphilis testing, faces a number of barriers. One significant barrier is the value that target communities place on such screening...

..M. avium isolates were significantly more likely to be associated with MAC pulmonary disease (odds ratio = 5.14, 95% confidence interval = 1.25 to 22.73) than M. intracellulare...

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..Multicenter, randomized trials of macrolide-based therapies are sorely needed to determine the safest and most effective treatments for NTM pulmonary disease...

..North Carolina, USA...

..To investigate an increase in active pediatric tuberculosis (TB) cases in North Carolina from 9 cases in 2001 to 32 cases in 2002, and to pilot test a screening tool for detection of latent TB infection in children...

..Updated guidelines now recommend only restricted use of the 2RZ regimen for latent TB, with careful supervision...

..Pedicure-associated nontuberculous mycobacterial furunculosis has been reported in the setting of either outbreaks or sporadic case reports. The epidemiology of these infections is not well understood...

..Clinicians should include this disease in the differential diagnosis of ovarian cancer and should consider laparoscopic diagnosis in the appropriate epidemiologic setting...

..The rifampin/pyrazinamide regimen for latent tuberculosis infection may be useful for high-risk, traditionally nonadherent patient groups, but careful monitoring for toxicity is required...

..Clinical decisions about whether to discontinue secondary prophylaxis for opportunistic infections continue to be challenging...

..To determine the feasibility of therapeutic drug monitoring for adjusting low serum antimycobacterial concentrations in patients with both tuberculosis and advanced human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)...

..The role of end-of-treatment (EOT) CXR in predicting relapse is unclear...

..Clinicians' assessments were sensitive for TB but had poor predictive value. The acid-fast smear was a weak predictor of TB, owing to a high rate of isolation of NTM...

..Shorter course regimens and regimens using directly observed therapy result in improved adherence but have higher upfront costs...

..niger infection and can be helpful in making a diagnosis even in the absence of conidia. Therapeutic drug monitoring may be useful in optimizing the treatment of IA given the wide variations in the oral bioavailability of voriconazole...

..Excess alcohol use represents a significant challenge in tuberculosis control. Whether alcohol use enhances transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is not known...

..Interventions to enhance utilization of HIV-related health care and integration of TB and HIV services should be studied to improve outcomes...

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..HIV testing was also widely accepted. Pairing QFT with opt-out HIV testing should be strongly considered when possible...

..the role of the treatment of latent TB infection in global TB control? (2) What are successful strategies to control immigrant TB in low incidence countries? (3) What are successful strategies to control TB in persons with HIV infection?..

..The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of health care-associated status on effectiveness of initial therapy in hospitalized patients with bloodstream infections...

..Patients in higher-risk groups were more likely to be tested, but even within the highest-risk groups, testing was not universal. Health care providers should offer HIV testing to all individuals with TB...

..Excess alcohol use represents a significant challenge in tuberculosis control. Whether alcohol use enhances transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is not known...

..North Carolina, United States...

..We hypothesize that factors related to increased unemployment, such as diagnostic delay, may have played a role in the sudden drop in TB case rates...

..13; P>.05). In light of these results, researchers who do epidemiological investigations should use caution when interpreting the significance of matching PFGE patterns of L. pneumophila, serogroup 1...

..Instead, our data suggest that the presence of a PV and infection by E. faecalis are associated with an increased risk for IE...

..A separate category for health care-associated bloodstream infections is justified, and this new category will have obvious implications for choices about empirical therapy and infection-control surveillance...

..The goal is to provide the clinician and clinical microbiologist with an overview of the diseases most commonly associated with lung cavities, with attention to the epidemiology and clinical characteristics of the host...

..The purpose of this study was to capture and describe knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about tuberculosis (TB) among persons at high risk for TB infection...

..Our findings will also assist clinicians in predicting which patients with NTM isolated from the respiratory tract will have NTM pulmonary disease. ..