Concomitant pulmonary disease is common among patients with extrapulmonary TB.

BACKGROUND: Microbiologic screening of extrapulmonary TB (EPTB) patients could inform recommendations for aerosol precautions and close contact prophylaxis. However, this is currently not routinely recommended in India. Therefore, we estimated the proportion of Indian patients with EPTB with microbiologic evidence of pulmonary TB (PTB).METHODS: We characterized baseline clinical, radiological and sputum microbiologic data of 885 adult and pediatric TB patients in Chennai and Pune, India, between March 2014 and November 2018.RESULTS: Of 277 patients with EPTB, enhanced screening led to the identification of 124 (45%) with concomitant PTB, including 53 (19%) who reported a cough >2 weeks; 158 (63%) had an abnormal CXR and 51 (19%) had a positive sputum for TB. Of 70 participants with a normal CXR and without any cough, 14 (20%) had a positive sputum for TB. Overall, the incremental yield of enhanced screening of patients with EPTB to identify concomitant PTB disease was 14% (95% CI 12-16).CONCLUSIONS: A high proportion of patients classified as EPTB in India have concomitant PTB. Our results support the need for improved symptom and CXR screening, and recommends routine sputum TB microbiology screening of all Indian patients with EPTB.

Diabetes and pre-diabetes among household contacts of tuberculosis patients in India: is it time to screen them all?

SETTING: Pre-diabetes mellitus (pre-DM) and DM increase the risk of developing tuberculosis (TB). Screening contacts of TB patients for pre-DM/DM and linking them to care may mitigate the risk of developing TB and improve DM management. OBJECTIVE: To measure the prevalence of pre-DM/DM and associated factors among the adult household contacts (HHCs) of pulmonary TB patients. METHODS: Between August 2014 and May 2017, adult HHCs of newly diagnosed adult PTB patients in Pune and Chennai, India, had single blood samples tested for glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) at enrolment. DM was defined as previously diagnosed, self-reported DM or HbA1c 6.5%, and pre-DM as HbA1c between 5.7% and 6.4%. Latent tuberculous infection (LTBI) was defined as a positive tuberculin skin test (5 mm induration) or QuantiFERON® Gold In-Tube (0.35 international units/ml). RESULTS: Of 652 adult HHCs, 175 (27%) had pre-DM and 64 (10%) had DM. Forty (64%) HHCs were newly diagnosed with DM and 48 (75%) had poor glycaemic control (HbA1c 7.0%). Sixty-eight (22%) pre-DM cases were aged 18-34 years. Age 35 years, body mass index 25 kg/m2, chronic disease and current tobacco smoking were significantly associated with DM among HHCs. CONCLUSIONS: Adult HHCs of TB patients in India have a high prevalence of undiagnosed DM, pre-DM and LTBI, putting them at high risk for developing TB. Routine DM screening should be considered among all adult HHCs of TB.

Pharmacokinetics of norethisterone following its oral administration and by spraying it nasally or sublingually to male bonnet monkeys.

Pharmacokinetic parameters of norethisterone (NET) were studied in eight adult male bonnet monkeys following the administration of a single dose of 300 ug. The animals were crossed over between the following three routes of administration: oral ingestion, nasal and sublingual spraying. The results indicate that NET was readily absorbed by all three routes but the Cmax and AUC of NET were significantly greater by the sublingual route. No significant difference in the t 1/2 alpha or t 1/2 beta was observed between the three routes. These findings suggest that the sublingual route offers the possibility of reducing the effective dose of NET, which is widely used for contraceptive purposes.