Talk:Diagnosis of tuberculosis

WHO protocols
Treatment for Tuberculosis may vary from developing coutries to developed countries, and so may vary the protocol for diagnosis. For eg. as per the WHO run and monitored Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program in India (2002), 3 sputum samples, one of them overnight, and two others at the spot are a MUST for diagnosis. X-ray takes a second place in countries where holding cases for 6 months of ATT is a strain on the state and the citizen.

I believe these new diagnosis protocols of WHO should be incoroported, and throw this open for discussion before I go ahead and put it up.

ANy comments?
 * I agree that the WHO diagnostic protocols be put up, BUT remember that they only guide diagnosis of TB of the lungs and pretty much ignore TB infection elsewhere in the body.--Gak 16:03, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Interferon-&gamma; testing
A related issue

Two other tests that should also be metioned are Quantiferon TB (QFT) Gold which its manufacturer (www.cellestis.com) claims is much more accurate than Mantoux, particularly among BCG imunised subjects and Ellispot tests about which I know nothing.

Since I own shares in Cellestis - the manufacturer of of QFT - I would prefer someone a bit more independent and knowlegable to deal with these tests.

"In general the US approach is likely to result in more false positives and more unnecessary treatment with potentially toxic drugs; the UK approach is as sensitive in theory and should also be more specific, because of the use of interferon-γ tests." Heyo, I was wondering whether this statement is author's opinion or whether it is a view taken from a published paper. If it is a published paper, could you please add the relevant citation, thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tetraploidtree (talk • contribs) 15:40, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Tyne test
Reference to the Tyne test removed. It is no longer in use anywhere in the world.--Gak 15:34, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Abreugraphy
I propose that this section be moved to TB radiography.--Gak 16:00, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

US guidance
Will people please STOP chopping and pasting bits wholesale from the CDC website and pretending that they apply to the whole world? CDC recommendations are specific to the US and are NOT relevant to other countries: in fact, many CDC recommendations directly contradict the recommendations of other countries and international health organisations (including the WHO). If you ARE going to put CDC guidance into this article, PLEASE mark it as US specific. --Gak 18:06, 17 September 2006 (UTC


 * I agree! TB isn't even such a big problem in the USA. So, we should be using WHO guidelines instead, or better: country-specific ones from the high-burden countries. --Waqqashanafi (talk) 08:31, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Role of microbiology in diagnosis
Microbiological diagnosis is the only definitive method of diagnosing tuberculosis.--Gak 13:11, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

The whole microbiological diagnosis section seems a bit illogical, starting with sputum but then moving onto diagnosis by technological platform. Suggest this is ordered by platform to make it more consistent. It also skips very briefly over the nucleic amplification technologies of which there have been many recent developments.--Fortuitum (talk) 11:25, 10 October 2012 (UTC)

"Productive cough"
the symptoms of pulmonary TB: productive, prolonged cough of three or more weeks

For those of us without an extensive background in medical jargon, could some link/explanation be given to clarify the difference between a "productive" cough versus an "unproductive" cough? -- 14:11, 30 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Productive cough basically means that you cough stuff up. I added a link from productive cough to sputum.  Hope this helps. (D.c.camero (talk) 01:40, 30 August 2008 (UTC))

Minimum criteria necessary to diagnose as TB?
This article doesn't specify the minimum clinical symptoms criteria necessary to diagnose as TB. I believe it is unexplained weight loss. Cough isn't necessary. But I'm not sure. --Waqqashanafi (talk) 08:29, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Diagnosis in children
The problem of diagnosis in children is entirely missing. Will add one sentence as a starter. Wuerzele (talk) 17:12, 19 February 2024 (UTC)

Lede does not reflect body
After cleaning up the body a bit, I find the lede does not reflect the body whatsoever.

Even the first sentence is unfortunate: "Tuberculosis is diagnosed by finding Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria in a clinical specimen taken from the patient." Most of the time that is not true: Latent TB is diagnosed by immunological reactions alone. It would be true to say that TB is confirmed by finding Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria in a clinical specimen taken from the patient. Wuerzele (talk) 18:20, 19 February 2024 (UTC)