Results of Xpert® MTB/RIF implementation in Kyrgyzstan

INTRODUCTION

In July 2012, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Quality Health Care Project introduced the Xpert® MTB/RIF assay at the facility level of the primary health care system in Kyrgyzstan. This study analysed the results of the implementation of Xpert.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Test results from 2734 patients from July 2012 to December 2014 were analysed. The sensitivity and specificity of Xpert in routine programme conditions were evaluated using culture and phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) as gold standard. Contribution to early start of treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) was expressed as the median time between availability of the test result and start of treatment.

RESULTS

Compared to culture, the sensitivity and specificity of Xpert were respectively 92.7% and 90.4%. For the detection of rifampicin (RMP) resistance, Xpert sensitivity and specificity were respectively 90.1% and 90.7%. The median time to initiation of MDR-TB treatment decreased to 10 days (interquartile range [IQR] 6-16) in 2014 from 20 days (IQR 12-40, P < 0.001) in 2013.

CONCLUSION

The Xpert assay demonstrated good agreement in the detection of both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and RMP-resistant pulmonary TB in routine clinical practice. Although Xpert improved the time to treatment initiation from 2013 to 2014, more efforts are needed to further reduce this delay.

The dynamics of tuberculosis in response to 10 years of intensive control effort in Peru

Improved tuberculosis (TB) case detection and cure rates are expected to accelerate the decline in incidence of TB and to reduce TB-associated deaths. Time series analyses of case reports in Peru showed that the per capita TB incidence rate was probably steady before 1991. Case reports increased between 1990 and 1992 as a result of improved case detection. Although diagnostic efforts have continued to increase since 1993, the incidence of new pulmonary TB cases has declined in every department of the country, with a national rate of decline > or =5.8% per year (range, 1.9%-9.7%). This elevated rate of decline suggests that 27% (19%-34%) of cases (158,000) and 70% (63%-77%) of deaths (91,000) among smear-positive patients were averted between 1991 and 2000. This is the first demonstration that a significant number of TB cases can be prevented through intensive short-course chemotherapy in a high-burden country.

National tuberculosis programme review: experience over the period 1990-95

Since 1990 the WHO Global Tuberculosis Programme (GTB) has promoted the revision of national tuberculosis programmes to strengthen the focus on directly observed treatment, short-course (DOTS) and close monitoring of treatment outcomes. GTB has encouraged in-depth evaluation of activities through a comprehensive programme review. Over the period 1990-95, WHO supported 12 such programme reviews. The criteria for selection were as follows: large population (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Thailand); good prospects of developing a model programme for a region (Nepal, Zimbabwe); or at advanced stage of implementation of a model programme for a region (Guinea, Peru). The estimated combined incidence of smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis was 82 per 100,000 population, about 43% of the global incidence. The prevalence of infection with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was variable, being very high in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, but negligible in Bangladesh, China, Nepal and Peru. The programme reviews were conducted by teams of 15-35 experts representing a wide range of national and external institutions. After a 2-3-month preparatory period, the conduct of the review usually lasted 2-3 weeks, including a first phase of meetings with authorities and review of documents, a second phase for field visits, and a third phase of discussion of findings and recommendations. The main lessons learned from the programme reviews were as follows: programme review is a useful tool to secure government commitment, reorient the tuberculosis control policies and replan the activities on solid grounds; the involvement of public health and academic institutions, cooperating agencies, and nongovernmental organizations secured a broad support to the new policies; programme success is linked to a centralized direction which supports a decentralized implementation through the primary health care services; monitoring and evaluation of case management functions well if it is based on the right classification of cases and quarterly reports on cohorts of patients; a comprehensive programme review should include teaching about tuberculosis in medical, nursing, and laboratory workers' schools; good quality diagnosis and treatment are the essential requirements for expanding a programme beyond the pilot testing; and control targets cannot be achieved if private and social security patients are left outside the programme scope. The methodology of comprehensive programme review should be recommended to all countries which require programme reorientation; it is also appropriate for carrying out evaluations at 4-5-year intervals in countries that are implementing the correct tuberculosis control policies.