Diagnosing Pulmonary Tuberculosis in the Elderly

• Published in: Current geriatrics reports Vol. 9; no. 2; pp. 30 - 39
• Main Authors: Symes, Michael J., Probyn, Ben, Daneshvar, Cyrus, Telisinghe, Lilanganee
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.06.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Age groups; Bronchoscopy; Comorbidity; Fever; Geriatrics/Gerontology; HIV; Human immunodeficiency virus; Industrialized nations; Infections; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Microscopy; Neurology; Older people; Pain Medicine; Pathogens; Patients; Psychopharmacology; Pulmonology and Respiratory Care (D Breen; Rheumatology; Section Editor; Subject heading schemes; Substance abuse treatment; Topical Collection on Pulmonology and Respiratory Care; Tuberculosis; United Kingdom > UK; Diagnostics; Sputum microscopy; Whole-genome sequencing; Elderly; Imaging
• ISSN: 2196-7865; 2196-7865
• DOI: 10.1007/s13670-020-00319-5

Purpose of Review Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) remains a diagnostic challenge, particularly in low endemic settings with ageing populations. The impact has both individual and infection control implications. Recent Findings Over the past 20 years, progress has been made in trying to improve TB diagnostics. International recommendations for investigation however still rely heavily on the index of suspicion, imaging and ultimately culturing Mycobacterium tuberculosis which remains the gold standard for diagnosing TB disease. Recent advances include molecular diagnostics with the ability to rapidly identify TB disease and drug resistance and whole-genome sequencing. Summary In this review, we explore the validity of TB diagnostics in the elderly to assist the practicing clinician in the diagnostic workup in this population.