Performance of Tongue Swabs for Tuberculosis Diagnosis in Hospitalized Children Under 5 Years of Age.

Of 201 enrolled under-5s, 11 (5.5%) had confirmed tuberculosis, 53 (26.4%) unconfirmed tuberculosis, and 137 (68.2%) unlikely tuberculosis.

TS-XU testing reported " Mtb detected" in 116 (57.7%) of 201 under-5s: positive results were "trace" (90/116, 77.6%), "very low" (21/116, 18.1%), and "low" or "medium" (4/116 [3.4%] and 1/116 [0.8%], respectively).

There were no "high" TS-XU results.

When trace results were presumed negative, TS-XU sensitivity was 17.2% (95% CI, 7.9%-26.4%) and specificity 89.1% (95% CI, 83.8%-94.3%), and TS-XU detected Mtb in 15 (10.9%) of 137 children with unlikely tuberculosis.