Diagnosis of paediatric TB using Xpert(®) MTB/RIF Ultra on fresh respiratory samples

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Xpert(®) MTB/RIF Ultra (Ultra) on fresh respiratory samples for the diagnosis of pulmonary TB (PTB) in children. METHODS: Between July 2017 and December 2019, children with presumed TB were prospectively enrolled at clinical sites in three African countries. Children were assessed using history, physical examination and chest X-ray. Sputum or gastric aspirate samples were analysed using Ultra and culture. The diagnostic accuracy of Ultra was calculated against culture as the reference standard. RESULTS: In total, 547children were included. The median age was 4.7 years, 77 (14.1%) were HIV infected and 77 (14.1%) had bacteriologically confirmed TB. Ultra detected an additional 20 cases in the group of children with negative culture results. The sensitivity of Ultra was 66.3% (95% CI 47–82), and the specificity was 95.4% (95% CI 89–99) when assessed against culture as the reference standard. CONCLUSION: Despite the improved performance of Ultra as compared to Xpert as was previously reported, its sensitivity remains sub-optimal for the detection of TB in children. Ultra detected additional 20 cases which otherwise could not have been detected by culture alone, suggesting that the latter is an imperfect reference standard.