[en] Pediatric tuberculosis (TB) remains a global health crisis. Despite progress, pediatric patients remain difficult to diagnose, with approximately half of all childhood TB patients lacking bacterial confirmation. In this pilot study (n = 31), we identify a 4-compound breathprint and subsequent machine learning model that accurately classifies children with confirmed TB (n = 10) from children with another lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) (n = 10) with a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 100% observed across cross validation folds. Importantly, we demonstrate that the breathprint identified an additional nine of eleven patients who had unconfirmed clinical TB and whose symptoms improved while treated for TB. While more work is necessary to validate the utility of using patient breath to diagnose pediatric TB, it shows promise as a triage instrument or paired as part of an aggregate diagnostic scheme.
Disciplines :
Cardiovascular & respiratory systems
Author, co-author :
Bobak, Carly A; Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA ; Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
Kang, Lili; Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
Workman, Lesley; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
Bateman, Lindy; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
Khan, Mohammad S; Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
Prins, Margaretha; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
May, Lloyd; Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
Franchina, Flavio ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de chimie (sciences) > Chimie analytique, organique et biologique ; Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
Baard, Cynthia; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
Nicol, Mark P; Division of Medical Microbiology and Institute for Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa ; School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
Zar, Heather J; Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, MRC Unit on Child and Adolescent Health, University of Cape Town and Red Cross War Memorial Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa
Hill, Jane E; Thayer School of Engineering, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA. jane.hill@ubc.ca
Language :
English
Title :
Breath can discriminate tuberculosis from other lower respiratory illness in children.
BWF - Burroughs Wellcome Fund SAMRC - South African Medical Research Council BMGF - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation NIH - National Institutes of Health CFF - Cystic Fibrosis Foundation NHMRC - National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding text :
The authors thank the children who participated in the study, the children’s carers, and the staff at Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital for their support. C.A.B. was supported by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund institutional program grant unifying population and laboratory based sciences to Dartmouth College (Grant#1014106). This study was also supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (to J.E.H.). HZ is supported by the SA MRC. Funding for the TB diagnostic study is from the NIH. J.E.H is supported by the US NIH, the US Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, and the Australian MRC.
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