Measuring Aerosol Production from Patients with Active TB

Twenty-eight of 101 patients with culture-confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis had culture-positive cough aerosols, suggesting infectiousness; likelihood of a culture-positive aerosol was directly correlated with degree of sputum-smear positivity.

Although tuberculosis (TB) is transmitted by aerosols of droplet nuclei <5 µm in diameter, determination of infectiousness has been based on microscopic examination of sputum for the presence of organisms (smear assessment) — a method that may be neither sensitive nor specific. The magnitude and particle-size distributions of the aerosols generated by patients with active TB are unknown.

In a study conducted in Uganda, researchers attempted to collect, quantify, and size the aerosols produced by voluntary coughing in patients with active pulmonary TB and to compare these findings with results from sputum smears and aerosol cultures. Patients with culture-confirmed TB were asked to cough in two 5-minute sessions into a custom-built chamber th…

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)

Measuring Aerosol Production from Patients with Active TB

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Reviewing Author