TB Flashcards
What proportion of patients with HIV are TB +ve?
Around 25%
What proportion of TB is MDR/XR?
5%/0.5%
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What strategies can be employed to decrease the risk of TB transmission in hospital settings?
Open windows, high ceilings, UV light, NP95 masks
What is the risk of developing active TB from latent TB?
5-10%
Who should be tested for latent TB?
3 groups: Active TB contacts, current HIV immunosuppression, other high risk groups: endemic, homeless, healthworkers.
When is a TST positive?
5mm classified as positive in HIV or recent contact.
10 mm classified as positive in recent arrivals from high risk countries, healthcare workers, prisoners, homeless, drug users, immigrants
15mm in other general population
Name 5 symptoms of pulmonary TB
Fever
Night sweats
Weight loss, anorexia
Fatigue
Cough with productive sputum
Haemoptysis seen in advanced disease
What % of TB is pulmonary?
80-85%
What are the most common sites of extrapulmonary TB?
Lymphadenitis
Pleural
Urogenital
Bone and joint disease
GI
CNS
Cutaneous
Pericardial
What proportion of TB is pulmonary/extra pulmonary in HIV patients?
Pulmonary 40%
EPTB 30-40%
Pulmonary + EPTB 20-30%
How does TB lymphadenitis present?
> 90% occur in head and neck lymph nodes
HIV negative
Painless lymphadenopathy without systemic symptoms – NO FEVER
Only 20-30% have an abnormal CXR
(HIV patients - fever more common)
What are the patterns of cutaneous TB disease?
Primary cutaneous – direct inoculation into skin from exogenous source
- Ulcer (TB chancre)
- TB verrucose cutis (‘TB wart’)
- PPD usually negative
Secondary cutaneous - PPD usually positive + can detect AFB in lesion. More common sec than primary.
Tuberculids
How does secondary cutaenous TB present?
Scrofuloderma - from direct extension of underling TB in lymph node / bone / joints
Acute haematogenous papules and pustules
Lupus vulgaris – multiple nodules and plaques on face and neck
TB gumma – multiple soft tissue abscess
Sinus tract
How may cutaenous tuberculids present?
Tuberculids - Cutaenous hypersensitivity reactions (AFB not in lesion), PPD +ve
Erythema induratum (Bazin disease) - recurrent nodules on back of legs
Papulo-necrotic tuberculids - crops of recurrent skin papules
Lichen scrofuloderma - extending eruption of follicular papules in children with TB
Erythema nodosum (primary / secondary)
Where does musculoskeletal TB most often occur?
Thoracic spine (Lumbar = brucellosis)
Differentiate brucella in the spine vs TB
Spinal TB - Visible abscess with destruction of vertebrae
Brucellosis – lumbar spine with anterior superior bone erosion
TB - common, young adults, thoracic, lytic lesions
Brucella - not common, older adults, lumbar, blastic lesions anterior V body
What is the most common presentation of urinary TB?
Aseptic pyuria
How can you diagnose genitourinary TB?
PPD >95% +ve
AFB in urine 80%
Culture >95%
How does TB meningitis present?
Meningitis with stupor and cranial nerve involvement is classic presentation
What is the CSF LP findings in TB?
Increase WCC (mononuclear - lymphocytic), low glucose, high protein
How can you definitively diagnose TB meningitis?
CSF AFB smear- sensitivity 10-30%
CSF-Xpert 60% sensitive
Xpert-CSF Centrifugated: 82% sensitive
Culture -66% sensitive
Also CXR, sputum AFB smear/culture
What is the WHO recommendation for testing for active TB?
All patients with cough >2wks should have TB screen with sputum x3 for AFB
What does ‘acid fast bacilli’ mean?
tubercle bacilli are identifiable from nearly all other species of bacteria by their ability to resist decolouration with weakly acidified alcohol
What types of gram stain are possible for TB?
Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN), fluorescence microscopy (auramine)
What is the sensitivity of AFB smear, and how can this be increased?
Sensitivity of AFB smear is 50-60%
- Fluorescence microscopy is 10% more sensitive than conventional, and has reduced reading time.
- Centrifugation increases sensitivity by 10%
What are the disadvantages of gram stain microscopy for acid fast bacilli?
- Requires 10,000 organisms/ml to be positive (low sensitivity)
- Patient can be very unwell / infect others by time smear is +
- No differentiation between TB/NTM
Name the test and the organism?
TB, Ziehl Neelson stain
Name the features of TB on CXR
Mediastinal-hilar lymphadenopathy
Alveolar-interstitial pattern
Reactivation - more peri hilar and upper lobe
Primary disease - middle and lower lobes
What is the gold standard for TB diagnosis?
Culture (detect as low as 100 AFB/ml), also provides DST
What different types of culture are available for TB?
Solid media:
- Lowenstein-Jensen (LJ) or Ogawa
- Good media but very slow (2-4wks)
- Malachite green prevents growth of contaminants
Advantages: less contamination
Disadvantages: very slow (2-4wk for positive, 8wks for negative)
Liquid media:
7H9 MGIT (mycobacterial growth indicator tube)
- More sensitive than solid media
- Uses fluorescence to detect oxygen consumption by bacterial growth
- ZN stain confirms presence of mycobacteria – cordons are characteristic of MTB
Advantages: more sensitive, much faster (10-14 days for positive)
Disadvantages: more expensive, more contamination
What is the organism? Which test? Why?
TB - ZN stain – cordons characteristic of MTB
How many organisms need to be present in a sample for molecular tests to be positive?
Gene Xpert needs 150 bacilli to be positive
Culture detects as low as 100 bacilli / ml
Ultra Gene Xpert needs 10 bacilli to be positive
Smear needs 10,000 bacilli to be positive
What gene does Gene Xpert test for mutations in for rifampicin resistance?
rpoB gene
What samples can be used for TB gene Xpert?
sputum, CSF, ascites, pleural fluid, lymph node aspirate
Lymph node aspirate / tissue: good sensitivity (85%)
CSF: good sensitivity (80%)
Pleural fluid: poor sensitivity (45%)
Gastric lavage (?only infants): 84%
How sensitive and specific is gene Xpert?
High sensitivity (98%) and specificity (99%), result in 2 hrs
What is urine LAM? In which group of patients is it useful in?
Lipoarabinomannan (LAM) - polysaccharide in mycobacterial cell wall
HIV positive
How do you diagnose pleural TB?
Culture of pleural biopsy 86% sensitive
Culture of pleural aspirate 35% sensitive
Smear of pleural aspirate 10-30% sensitive
How useful is gene Xpert for diagnosis of TB meningitis from CSF?
CSF AFB smear- sensitivity 10-30%
CSF-Xpert 60% sensitive
culture 66% sensitive
Xpert-CSF
Centrifugated: 82% sensitive
Who do you test for latent TB?
Who to test and treat
Definitely
HIV infected
Contacts of pulmonary TB
Anti-TNF treatment
Transplant candidates
Silicose
Consider
Prisoners
Healthcare workers
Immigrants from high TB burden country
Homeless
IVDU
What are the treatment options for latent TB?
6 months of daily isoniazid (WHO)
3-4 months of weekly rifapentine plus isoniazid in high incidence settings
3-4 months of isoniazid plus rifampicin daily (alternative to 1, for children and adolescents in high incidence countries)
3 or 4 months rifampicin alone daily (only in low incidence countries)
What is the definition of TB monoresistance?
Resistance to a single drug
What is the definition of TB polyresistance?
Multiple drug resistance that does not constitute MDR/XDR
What is the definition of MDR TB?
Resistance to Rifampicin and Isoniazid (at least)
What is the definition of RR TB?
Rifampicin resistant TB. 90% of cases resistant to Rif will be resistant to INH
What is the definition of XDR TB?
MDR TB (INH and Rif resistance) plus resistance to a fluoroquinolone and at least one other group A drug