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Tuberculosis (TB) poses significant health challenges globally, contributing significantly to illness and mortality. Approximately one-fourth of the world's population is believed to carry the tuberculosis bacterium, with a 5-10% lifetime risk of developing active TB disease. Timely identification of TB and rapid detection of drug resistance are crucial in mitigating its global impact. Clinical, radiological, bacteriological, and molecular methods are used to screen and diagnose TB. Microscopy, culture, and immunological methods are commonly employed. Although microscopy has been used for approximately a century, it has limitations, necessitating its use and evaluation alongside other diagnostic techniques for a complete and accurate diagnosis. Bacterial culture in solid and liquid media is still the gold standard recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the diagnosis of TB, as it enables the isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) as well as the detection of drug resistance. In recent years, promising modern solutions have emerged that aim to overcome the limitations of culture and microscopic examination methods in molecular diagnostic testing. In routine laboratories in resource-wealthy countries, methods such as Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Drug Resistance Plus (MTBDRplus), loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), line probe assay (LPA), GeneXpert, and whole genome sequencing are increasingly being used to diagnose and characterize TB and determine anti-TB drug susceptibilities. Our goal is to explore and assess the evolution, advancements, and future prospects in TB diagnosis, focusing particularly on the current laboratory methods used for diagnosing the disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nontuberculous Mycobacteria (NTM) are aquatic and geophilic environmental organisms that typically affect immunocompromised patients, with the majority of clinical cases being pulmonary infections caused by more than 150 species. The most commonly isolated and clinically significant species among them are Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC), Mycobacterium abscessu, Mycobacterium ulcerans, Mycobacterium kansasii, Mycobacterium fortuitum, Mycobacterium chelonae, Mycobacterium malmoense, Mycobacterium xenopi, and Mycobacterium marinum. The incidence and prevalence of pulmonary infections have increased worldwide. Pulmonary NTM disease typically affects the elderly population with chronic lung disease, but genetic predisposition and environmental exposures also play a role in acquiring the disease. Patients must meet all clinical, microbiological and radiological diagnostic criteria for a diagnosis of pulmonary NTM disease. Advances in molecular methods have enabled the detection of new species and the identification of NTM at the species and subspecies level. These microorganisms, which are difficult to diagnose and treat, have high recurrence rates. Although exposure to NTM is inevitable, the rarity of the infection is mainly due to the host immune response. Research on the pathogenesis and host immune response in NTM infections has gained momentum in recent years. NTM associated diseases, which are becoming a public health problem today, have been overshadowed by tuberculosis, which is considered an ongoing pandemic, and have not received sufficient attention. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the epidemiology, diagnostic criteria, microbiological diagnostic methods, treatment of NTM infections, and particularly a general view of the host's natural immune response to NTM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Mersin Üniversitesi sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Mersin University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Mersin Üniversitesi sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Mersin University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Turkish Bulletin of Hygiene & Experimental Biology / Türk Hijyen ve Deneysel Biyoloji is the property of Refik Saydam National Public Health Agency and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Mersin Üniversitesi sağlık Bilimleri Dergisi is the property of Mersin University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of deaths from infectious disease worldwide. Nowadays, the tendency of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) to spread between continents due to uncontrolled migration movements shows that TB is a global health problem. The number of studies for the detection of MTBC strains' epidemiological features in areas with TB spread risk using molecular-based methods such as spoligotyping and Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit (MIRU) Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR) at the clonal level is insufficient. In this study, it was aimed to determine the phylogenetic relationships of MTBC strains at the species level by spoligotyping and 15 locus MIRU-VNTR (MIRU-VNTR15) molecular methods of 96 multidrug-resistant (MDR) MTBC strains isolated from sputum samples of patients with a preliminary diagnosis of pulmonary TB or suspected contact history those sent to National Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory from the centers that are members of the Tuberculosis Laboratory Surveillance Network. The phylogenetic relationship between 96 MDR-TB strains was investigated with the combination of bead-based spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR15 methods on the MAGPIX® Milliplex Map device. In this study, it was determined that the T1 family is more common in our country and LAM7-TUR family is less common than the Beijing family unlike other studies. It was determined that the strains in the same cluster had different locus profiles, and there was no transmission from the same clone in the clonal typing we performed with spoligotyping and MIRU-VNTR15. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Izmir Katip Celebi University Faculty of Health Sciences Journal / İzmir Katip Çelebi Üniversitesi Sağlık Bilimleri Fakültesi Dergisi is the property of Izmir Katip Celebi University, Faculty of Health Sciene Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis), which is the etiological agent of tuberculosis (TB), has become one of the most successful pathogens in human history with its ability to cause active/latent infection even in the face of a perfectly functioning immune system, thanks to its mutual evolution with the host cell over thousands of years. While one-fourth of the world’s population are estimated to be infected by M. tuberculosis, only 5-15% of this population fall ill with active TB disease throughout life. The main reason for this situation is the effective mechanisms of host immunity. After the TB bacillus is taken into the body by inhalation, it first encounters the natural immune cells. Acquired immunity develops against bacilli that cannot be eliminated by natural immunity. M. tuberculosis has developed quite a variety of strategies to evade the immune system. These strategies include escape from pathogen recognition receptors, inhibition of phagolysosome formation, inhibition of apoptosis and autophagy, immune escape with granuloma formation, inhibition of oxidative stress, and reactive oxygen and reactive nitrogen intermediates. Unraveling the mechanisms by which M. tuberculosis alters or modulates host immune function is probably of great importance for the development of more effective new vaccines and immunotherapy against TB. In this review, we aim to reveal new developments about the host immune response against M. tuberculosis and the escape mechanisms of bacillus from this response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]