Bedaquiline-based regimens for treating patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, MDR-TB, were associated with favorable outcomes and a lower rate of acquired drug resistance compared with delamanid-based regimens, according to a study conducted in the country of Georgia.

Bacille Calmette-Guérin, or BCG, vaccination is associated with a lower prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection in adult TB contacts and could protect against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection, according to results published in Journal of Infectious Diseases.

An analysis of 17 years of national surveillance data showed that all forms of rifampin resistance in patients with tuberculosis were positively associated with HIV infection, delayed culture conversion and increased mortality, researchers reported.

An active case-finding strategy uncovered a “very high prevalence” of tuberculosis coinfection among newly diagnosed HIV-infected patients in the country of Georgia, according to a recent study.

SEATTLE — Phase 2 study data presented at CROI demonstrated the cardiac safety of the combined use of bedaquiline and delamanid — two novel tuberculosis medications — in patients with multidrug-resistant TB receiving multidrug background treatment.

A prospective study examining the ability of tests to predict the development of active tuberculosis found a similarly low positive predictive value in high-burden settings of interferon- release assays, or IGRAs, and tuberculin skin tests, or TBTs, researchers reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The negative predictive value of the tests was high in all settings.

Findings from a recent study support substituting bedaquiline for second-line injectables in treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, with researchers reporting improved outcomes at 12 months compared with patients who remained on second-line injectables.

The risk that patients with drug-susceptible tuberculosis will experience a relapse appears greater when minimum inhibitory concentration, or MIC, values are higher, according to study findings published in The New England Journal of Medicine.