Diagnostic tests for tuberculous meningitis

Tuberculous meningitis is the most serious manifestation of tuberculosis, with mortality in approximately 50% of HIV co-infected people. 1 Marais S Pepper DJ Schutz C Wilkinson RJ Meintjes G Presentation and outcome of tuberculous meningitis in a high HIV prevalence setting. PLoS One. 2011; 6e20077 Crossref PubMed Scopus (69) Google Scholar A major factor contributing to the poor outcome of tuberculous meningitis is delayed diagnosis due to a lack of rapid, accurate diagnostic tests. Until recently, these tests were restricted to smear microscopy of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and microbiological culture. The former tends operationally to be of low sensitivity and the latter often renders a result too late to be clinically meaningful. The diagnosis of drug-resistant disease presents further difficulties. Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra for the diagnosis of HIV-associated tuberculous meningitis: a prospective validation studyXpert Ultra detected tuberculous meningitis with higher sensitivity than Xpert and MGIT culture in this HIV-positive population. However, with a negative predictive value of 93%, Xpert Ultra cannot be used as a rule-out test. Clinical judgment and novel highly sensitive point-of-care tests are still required. Full-Text PDF Open AccessXpert MTB/RIF Ultra versus Xpert MTB/RIF for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis: a prospective, randomised, diagnostic accuracy studyXpert Ultra was not statistically superior to Xpert for the diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis in HIV-uninfected and HIV-infected adults. A negative Xpert Ultra or Xpert test does not rule out tuberculous meningitis. New diagnostic strategies are urgently required. Full-Text PDF Open Access