The Journal of infection
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The Journal of infection · Oct 2016
Limited value of whole blood Xpert(®) MTB/RIF for diagnosing tuberculosis in children.
We evaluated the ability of the Xpert(®) MTB/RIF assay to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis in whole blood of children with tuberculosis in tuberculosis endemic settings with high rates of HIV infection. ⋯ Whole blood Xpert(®) MTB/RIF demonstrated very poor sensitivity, although it may enhance the diagnostic yield in select cases, with culture-negative tuberculosis.