Please select the eligibility criteria that correspond to the clinical trial below.
Title: Impact of Systematic Early Tuberculosis Detection Using Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra in Children with Severe Pneumonia in High Tuberculosis Burden Countries
Brief Summary: Despite progress in reducing tuberculosis (TB) incidence and mortality in the past 20 years, TB is a top ten cause of death in children under 5 years worldwide. However, childhood TB remains massively underreported and undiagnosed, mostly because of the challenges in confirming its diagnosis due to the paucibacillary nature of the disease and the difficulty in obtaining expectorated sputum in children.

Pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children under the age of 5 years worldwide. There is growing evidence that, in high TB burden settings, TB is common in children with pneumonia, with up to 23% of those admitted to hospital with an initial diagnosis of pneumonia later being diagnosed as TB. However, the current World Health Organization (WHO) standard of care (SOC) for young children with pneumonia considers a diagnosis of TB only if the child has a history of prolonged symptoms or fails to respond to antibiotic treatments. Hence, TB is often under-diagnosed or diagnosed late in children presenting with pneumonia.

In this context, the investigators are proposing to assess the impact on mortality of adding the systematic early detection of TB using Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra, performed on NPAs and stool samples, to the WHO SOC for children with severe pneumonia, followed by immediate initiation of anti-TB treatment in children testing positive on any of the samples.

TB-Speed Pneumonia is a multicentric, stepped wedge diagnostic trial conducted in six countries with high TB incidence: Cote d'Ivoire, Cameroon, Uganda, Mozambique, Zambia and Cambodia.

The sub-study on Covid-19 will assess the prevalence and impact of the Covid-19 in young children hospitalized with severe pneumonia. The sub-study findings are expected to guide policy makers and clinicians on potential specific screening and management measures for these vulnerable groups of children. They are also key to analysing TB-Speed Pneumonia results on mortality in a context of the Covid-19 outbreak and to take into consideration SARS-CoV-2 infection status in the main study analysis.


Options:
A: Inclusion Criteria:

* The patient is willing to provide specimens (urine, blood, stool, respiratory tract specimens and swabs)
* The patient is clinically suspected of having TB (Two WHO TB symptoms for HIV negative patients and one WHO TB symptom if HIV positive)

Exclusion Criteria:

* The patient is under the age of 18 years old
* The patient declines consent
* The patient has too few clinical symptoms for TB
B: Inclusion Criteria:

Case Detection Group:

* Age 18 years or above
* Clinical suspicion of pulmonary TB (including cough ≥2 week and at least 1 other symptom typical of TB);
* Willingness to provide 3-4 sputum specimens at enrolment;
* Willingness to have a trial follow-up visit approximately 2 months after enrolment;
* Provision of informed consent.

Drug Resistant TB Group:

In addition to the criteria of the Case Detection Group, participants should also meet the following conditions:

* Non-converting pulmonary TB cases (category I and category II failures)

Exclusion Criteria:

Case Detection Group:

* Receipt of any dose of TB treatment within 60 days prior to enrolment (even if within last two days only).

Drug Resistant TB Group:

* Receipt of any dose of MDR-TB treatment within 60 days prior to enrolment (even if within last two days only).
C: Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients suspected of having pulmonary TB
* Cough ≥ 2 weeks
* At least one other TB clinical symptom

  * Fever
  * Unexplained weight loss
  * Loss of appetite
  * Hemoptysis
  * Shortness of breath
  * Chest pain
  * Night sweats
  * Fatigue
* Suggestive TB on chest x-ray based on pulmonologist or internist consultant of pulmonology opinion
* Age ≥ 18 years' old
* Willing to be treated or evaluated at study site
* Willing to have specimens stored for use in future studies
* Patient denies having TB treatment for more than 7 days in the last 1 month (30 days).

Exclusion Criteria:

Pregnancy or any serious condition includes, but not limited to, liver disease, chronic kidney disease, and psychiatric illness that might interfere with study compliance (based on the clinician judgment).
D: Inclusion criteria:

1. Children aged 2 to 59 months
2. Newly hospitalized for severe pneumonia defined using WHO criteria as cough or difficulty in breathing with:

   1. Peripheral oxygen saturation \< 90% or central cyanosis, or
   2. Severe respiratory distress (e.g. grunting, nasal flaring, very severe chest indrawing), or
   3. Signs of pneumonia, defined as cough or difficulty in breathing with fast breathing (tachypnea) and/or chest indrawing, with any of the following danger signs:

      * Inability to breastfeed or drink,
      * Persistent vomiting
      * Lethargy or reduced level of consciousness
      * Convulsions,
      * Stridor in calm child
      * Severe malnutrition
3. Informed consent signed by parent/guardian

Exclusion criteria:

- Ongoing TB treatment or history of intake of anti-TB drugs in the last 6 months

Answer: D