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Updated: May 12, 2026

Diagnosing Pulmonary Tuberculosis with the Xpert MTB/RIF Test
Published on: April 9, 2012
Xpert MTB/RIF testing of stool samples for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis in children
Mark P Nicol1, Karalene Spiers, Lesley Workman
1Division of Medical Microbiology and Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, and National Health Laboratory Service of South Africa, South Africa. mark.nicol@uct.ac.za
Abstract:
In a pilot accuracy study, stool Xpert testing from 115 children with suspected pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) detected 8/17 (47%) culture-confirmed tuberculosis cases, including 4/5 (80%) HIV-infected and 4/12 (33%) HIV-uninfected children. Sputum Xpert detected 11/17 (65%) cases. Stool holds promise for PTB diagnosis in HIV-infected children.
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