Rapid diagnosis of smear negative tuberculosis by bronchoalveolar-lavage enzyme-linked immunospot: an update

Aims: In patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (pTB) with negative acid-fast-bacilli (AFB)-smear results for sputum and bronchial secretions the clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis is often delayed. In an exploratory study (Jafari et al. AJRCCM 2006) with 37 patients we found that ELISPOT performed on mononuclear cells from the bronchoalveolar-lavage (BAL) allows a rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis in these cases. We here present a follow up of 72 prospectively recruited cases with a presumptive diagnosis of smear-negative pTB. Methods: Patients presenting to a tertiary hospital with a medical history and a p…