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BACKGROUND Tuberculosis, an important preventable and treatable cause of death is a major health problem worldwide. However, in patients with a compatible clinical picture, sputum smear don't reveal acid-fast bacilli in all patients. So, alternative methods of obtaining sputum specimen are frequently needed in these patients. Rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis and detection of rifampicin (RIF) resistance are essential for effective disease management. CBNAAT (cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test) (DS Sowjanya, et al) 1 is a novel integrated diagnostic device for diagnosis of tuberculosis and rapid detection of RIF resistance in clinical specimen. The aim of the study is to study different diagnostic modalities in sputum smear negative patients with special reference to CBNAAT. MATERIALS AND METHODS This was an observational study done in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine, SCBMCH, Cuttack. 100 patients were selected for the study. In all patients, induced sputum was sent for smear acid-fast bacilli. Those patients whose induced sputum was negative were undergone bronchoscopy for BAL (bronchoalveolar lavage). The specimen was sent for smear acid-fast bacilli, sputum CBNAAT and culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Background: Pneumococcal infections are frequent cause chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations and though various guidelines recommend the use of pneumococcal vaccines routinely to COPD patients to prevent exacerbations, the data regarding the effectiveness of this vaccine is limited and contradictory. Aims and objectives was to compare the frequency of exacerbations in patients of COPD before and after administration of pneumococcal vaccine and to find out the frequency of exacerbations in patients of COPD who are vaccinated against those who are not vaccinated as well as to study the effectiveness of pneumococcal vaccine will be analysed in respect to age, sex, Body mass index (BMI), severity of disease and other co-morbidity.Methods: This was a randomized non-placebo controlled trial, conducted from September 2013 to August 2015 including total of 150 patients divided into two groups: cases and controls. The cases were administered PPV23 along with specific medication and were followed up at intervals of 3months. Exacerbations were identified based on ANTHONISEN’S criteria. Number of exacerbations in each follow-up was recorded. The data from both the groups were analysed statistically.Results: After 1 year of follow up, there was significant reduction in mean number of exacerbations (p value <0.0001) in patients with COPD in vaccinated group. PPV23 was more effective in patients with COPD of less than 65 years of age and with severe and/or very severe airflow obstruction and also in patients with lower BMI (≤21kg/m2), females and with co-morbidities.Conclusions: This is an important strategy to prevent the repeated exacerbations in COPD patients particularly in severe and very severe disease groups and we support the recommendation that pneumococcal vaccine should be administered to these patients.

Background: According to Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP), diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) in India requires examination of two sputum samples collected over 2 days, that is, “spot” and next day “morning” samples. Objective: To assess the feasibility of diagnosing pulmonary TB by examining two spot sputum samples in 1 day and to compare this approach with the current RNTCP protocol. Materials and Method: A total of 375 subjects having cough >2 weeks were enrolled into the study. Three sputum samples were collected from each of the study participant; first spot (S1), second extra-spot (S2) sample 1 h after collection of the first sample, and third morning (M) sample collected next day morning. These specimens were subjected to standard sputum smear microscopy for acid-fast bacilli as per RNTCP guidelines. For 1-day protocol, results of “S1 and S2” samples and for 2-day protocol results of “S1 and M” samples were considered. Results: The number of sputum-positive pulmonary TB cases diagnosed with standard 2-day protocol was 119, whereas the experimental 1-day protocol diagnosed 120 cases ( P = 0.7). Comparing with standard 2-day protocol, this new 1-day protocol had sensitivity 98.32%, specificity 100%, positive predictive value 100%, and negative predictive value 99.17%. Conclusion: Single-day method can be adopted as the standard diagnostic approach for pulmonary TB after large-scale multicenter randomized controlled trials.

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