Impact of introducing fluorescent microscopy on hospital tuberculosis control: A before-after study at a high caseload medical center in Taiwan

BackgroundUndiagnosed tuberculosis (TB) patients hospitalized because of comorbidities constitute a challenge to TB control in hospitals. We aimed to assess the impact of introducing highly sensitive fluorescent microscopy for examining sputum smear to replace conventional microscopy under a high TB risk setting.MethodsWe measured the impact of switch to fluorescent microscopy on the smear detection rate of culture-confirmed pulmonary TB, timing of respiratory isolation, and total non-isolated infectious person-days in hospital at a high-caseload medical center (approximately 400 TB cases annually) in Taipei. Multivariable Cox regression was applied to adjust for effects of covariates. The effect attributable to the improved smear detection rate was determined using causal mediation analysis.ResultsAfter switch to fluorescence microscopy, median non-isolated infectious duration decreased from 12.5 days to 3 days (PConclusionsIn a high TB caseload setting, highly sensitive rapid diagnostic tools could substantially improve timing of respiratory isolation and reduce the risk of nosocomial TB transmission.