Authors: Yagui, M.¹; Perales, M.T.²; Asencios, L.¹; Vergara, L.³; Suarez, C.³; Yale, G.²; Salazar, C.³; Saavedra, M.²; Shin, S.⁴; Ferrousier, O.⁵; Cegielski, P.⁵

Source: The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 10, Number 8, August 2006 , pp. 838-843(6)

Publisher: International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease

Abstract:

Timely diagnosis and effective, safe treatment are essential to reduce transmission and improve outcomes for patients with tuberculosis. Aside from laboratory methods, many programmatic factors influence the overall turn-around time (TAT) in diagnosing multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). We measured each step in the overall TAT required for MDR-TB in two of five health districts of Lima, Peru. The total TAT, from initial sputum specimen to diagnosis and appropriate treatment, was 5 months, almost twice as long as the bacteriological procedures per se. Expensive investments in laboratory technology may yield low returns unless the programmatic aspects of the diagnostic process are streamlined at the same time.

Keywords: tuberculosis; diagnosis; antimicrobial drug resistance; multidrug resistance; pulmonary diseases

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Instituto Nacional de Salud, Lima, Perú 2: Programa de Control de Tuberculosis, Dirección de Salud V Lima Ciudad, Lima, Perú 3: Programa de Control de Tuberculosis, Dirección de Salud IV Lima Este, Lima, Perú 4: Socios en Salud, Lima, Perú; and Division of Social Medicine and Health Inequalities, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA 5: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Publication date: 2006-08-01

More about this publication?

• The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease publishes articles on all aspects of lung health, including public health-related issues such as training programmes, cost-benefit analysis, legislation, epidemiology, intervention studies and health systems research. The IJTLD is dedicated to the continuing education of physicians and health personnel and the dissemination of information on tuberculosis and lung health world-wide.

  Certain IJTLD articles are selected for translation into French, Spanish, Chinese or Russian. They are available on the Union website

• Editorial Board
• Information for Authors
• Subscribe to this Title
• ingentaconnect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Related content

• In this: publication
• By this: publisher
• In this Subject: Internal Medicine
• By this author: Yagui, M. ;  Perales, M.T. ;  Asencios, L. ;  Vergara, L. ;  Suarez, C. ;  Yale, G. ;  Salazar, C. ;  Saavedra, M. ;  Shin, S. ;  Ferrousier, O. ;  Cegielski, P.

Website © Publishing Technology. Article copyright remains with the publisher, society or author(s) as specified within the article.

• Terms and conditions
• Privacy policy
• Information for advertisers