How has the Zimbabwe mycobacterial culture and drug sensitivity testing system among re-treatment tuberculosis patients functioned during the scale-up of the Xpert MTB/RIF assay?

Abstract

In Zimbabwe, while the Xpert MTB/RIF assay is being used for diagnosing tuberculosis and rifampicin-resistance, re-treatment tuberculosis (TB) patients are still expected to have culture and drug sensitivity testing (CDST) performed at national reference laboratories for confirmation. The study aim was to document the Xpert MTB/RIF assay scale-up and assess how the CDST system functioned for re-treatment TB patients.