Cancer obscures extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) at a tertiary hospital in Northern Malawi.

Data on the prevalence of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) patients are limited in many African countries including Malawi. We conducted a retrospective review of all histology reports for cancer suspected patients at Mzuzu Central Hospital (MZCH) between 2013 and 2018 to determine the proportion of EPTB cases among cancer suspected patients and characterised them epidemiologically. All reports with inconclusive findings were excluded. In total, 2214 reports were included in the review, 47 of which reported EPTB, representing 2.1% (95% CI 1.6-2.8). The incidence of EPTB was significantly associated with sex, age and HIV status. Men were more than twice (OR 2.1; 95% CI 1.2-3.9) as likely to have EPTB as women while those with HIV were more than six times (OR 6.4; 95% CI 1.7-24.8) as likely to have EPTB compared to those who were HIV-negative. EPTB demonstrated an inverse relationship with age. The highest proportion of EPTB was found from neck lymph nodes (10.3% (5.4-17.2)). A reasonable number of EPTB cases are diagnosed late or missed in Malawi's hospitals. There is a need for concerted efforts to increase EPTB awareness and likely come up with a policy to consider EPTB as a differential diagnosis in cancer suspected patients.

Molecular typing of drug-susceptible and -resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Johannesburg, South Africa.

SETTING: Knowledge about spoligotyping families of drug-susceptible and drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis circulating in the Johannesburg area, South Africa, is lacking. OBJECTIVE: To determine the genetic diversity of M. tuberculosis isolates circulating in the Johannesburg area and to compare the results with both national and international databanks. DESIGN: Five hundred cultured M. tuberculosis isolates from within the greater Johannesburg metropolitan area collected from January 2009 to December 2010 were obtained from the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) Mycobacteriology Referral Laboratory, Johannesburg, in MGIT vials. The isolates were specimens from individuals with tuberculosis (TB) symptoms and known TB patients submitted to the NHLS for routine mycobacterial culture and drug susceptibility testing. The isolates were genotyped using spoligotyping. RESULTS: Spoligotyping generated 62 shared types, with 92% (458/500) of the sample size matching pre-existing shared types. Of the 62 shared types, eight families were predominant (clustering from 16 to 132), representing 64% (340/500) of the sample. The Beijing family (135/500) predominated (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: TB incidence in Johannesburg does not appear to be due to clonality, but is rather due to diverse circulating strains, namely the Beijing family, followed by the S, Latin American-Mediterranean and T families.