To Assess Risk for Tuberculosis Among Household Contacts, Just Cough?

In a Ugandan study, contacts exposed to patients with ≥10 CFU of M. tuberculosis in a cough aerosol culture had excess risk for active tuberculosis.

Among individuals exposed to pulmonary tuberculosis (TB), rates of infection and disease vary substantially. The number of colony forming units (CFUs) in cough aerosols from persons with pulmonary TB has been shown to predict new infection among close contacts better than sputum acid-fast bacillus (AFB) smears. Are household contacts of TB patients with high aerosol production at greater risk for progressing than contacts of patients with low or negative aerosol production? To answer this question, investigators enrolled 85 consecutive adult patients in Uganda with pulmonary TB and their 369 household contacts. Patients coughed into an aerosol sampling system for culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Results were considered negative, low a…

Reviewing Author

Neil M. Ampel, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesCoccidioidomycosis Study Group (Past President, Secretary, Treasurer)

Neil M. Ampel, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesCoccidioidomycosis Study Group (Past President, Secretary, Treasurer)

To Assess Risk for Tuberculosis Among Household Contacts, Just Cough?

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Reviewing Author