Despite a Mycobacterium tuberculosis control programme and anti-tuberculosis drugs, drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) is one of the most serious public health issues worldwide. Rapid laboratory diagnosis of M. tuberculosis is needed for the diagnosis of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB and to find the optimal treatment protocol. The purpose of this study was to detect resistance to rifampicin in new cases of TB using the GeneXpert MTB/RIF (M. tuberculosis/rifampicin) assay and the standard proportional method in west and northwest Iran. In this descriptive cross-sectional study, sputum samples were enrolled and screened for M. tuberculosis using Ziehl–Neelsen stain and mycobacterial culture. Samples from individuals with smear-positive TB were cultured on Lowenstein–Jensen medium; afterwards, the presence of resistance to rifampicin was examined by the GeneXpert MTB/RIF and standard proportional methods. A total of 400 new cases of suspected TB were collected, 162 (40.5%) of which were smear- and culture-positive for M. tuberculosis. The frequencies of rifampicin resistance in new smear-positive TB cases were 3.1% and 4.3% for GeneXpert and standard proportional method, respectively. Sensitivity and specificity of GeneXpert were 71% and 100%, respectively, compared with the proportional method. GeneXpert can be a quick and helpful method for the diagnosis of rifampicin-resistant TB in regions with high rates of DR-TB or MDR-TB. GeneXpert MTB-RIF assay must be used as an early diagnostic method whose results must be confirmed by the standard proportional method. The GeneXpert and proportional methods complement but do not replace each other.

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) plays a necessary etiological role in cervical cancer, it is logical to use HPV as a marker for the early detection of cervical cancer and precancerous. Prevalence of HPV infection and HPV genotypes vary among different regions. Objectives:The aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of HPV and its genotype distribution in cervical specimens of the patients who had attended to the pathology laboratories of Kermanshah, Iran. Methods: Cervical swaps, genital, and skin biopsy were obtained from each participant. DNA of HPV specimens were extracted using a genomics extraction kit. PCR amplification and genotyping were employed to investigate the presence of High-risk (HR) and Low-risk (LR) genotypes and also the types of HPV. Results: Human Papillomavirus was found in 62.1% of the samples obtained from the patients. Among the HR and LR types, HPV-6 was the major genotype 64.8%. Type 16 and 18 were the most frequent HR-HPV types (presented in 26% of the patient), followed by type 50s (24.7%), 45, 30s, and 11 (1.8% from each). Multiple HPV infections were presented in 40.7% of the positive genotyping specimens. Conclusions:In comparison with previous surveys done in other parts of Iran, we noticed higher frequency of HPV among the collected isolates and also the higher prevalence of HPV types 6, 16, 18, and 50s in this region of Iran. It seems that HPV vaccination as well as an organized prevention program can be safe and efficient to reduce HPV types.

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