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The short treatment regimen (STR) achieves a >80% cure in rifampicin-resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB) patients. However, ototoxicity induced by the injectable is a concern. This is the first study to evaluate the replacement of injectables by linezolid in patients with audiometry abnormalities at baseline or during the treatment.We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all RR-TB patients started on the STR between 2016 and June, 2019, in Niger. Patients underwent audiometry every 2 months in 2016 and every month since 2017.Of 195 patients, 16.9% (33 out of 195) received linezolid from the start (n=17), or switched from injectables to linezolid during treatment (n=16), based on audiometry abnormalities. In 2016, two patients developed severe ototoxicity despite switching to linezolid. Since 2017, no patient developed severe hearing loss or complete deafness. Severe haematological toxicity was observed in 18.1% (six out of 33) of patients on linezolid, none of which was life threatening. The use of linezolid was associated with severe but manageable adverse events (hazard ratio 8.9, 95% CI 2.5-31.5; p=0.001). A total of 90.9% (30 out of 33) of patients on a linezolid-containing STR were cured, and none experienced treatment failure. Three died, but not due to adverse events.Baseline and monthly audiometry monitoring and using linezolid after detection of hearing abnormalities appears effective to prevent severe ototoxicity, while keeping high treatment success and manageable adverse events., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: M.B. Souleymane has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Piubello has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: I.M. Mamane-Lawan has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: S. Hassane-Harouna has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: M.M. Assao-Neino has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Soumana has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Z. Hamidou-Harouna has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Gagara-Issoufou has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: N. Ortuño-Gutiérez has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Roggi has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: V. Schwoebel has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: S. Mamadou has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: L. Lynen has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: B. De Jong has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Van Deun has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: T. Decroo has nothing to disclose., (Copyright ©ERS 2021.)

Coronavirus disease has disrupted tuberculosis services globally. Data from 33 centers in 16 countries on 5 continents showed that attendance at tuberculosis centers was lower during the first 4 months of the pandemic in 2020 than for the same period in 2019. Resources are needed to ensure tuberculosis care continuity during the pandemic.

Background: Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is the most common respiratory disorder related to sleep. Its prevalence in developed countries varies from 3% to 28%. In several African countries, including Burkina Faso, this syndrome is still under-diagnosed and goes largely untreated. It is necessary to conduct studies in different contexts to determine the characteristics and develop the strategies for management of OSAS., Objectives: To determine the prevalence of OSAS in Burkina Faso., Methods: This prospective study recruited 106 patients coming for consultation for sleep disorders at the Yalgado Ouedraogo University Hospital Center, who responded to a self-questionnaire and were diagnosed by respiratory polygraphy., Results: A total of 77 patients (72.6%) had OSAS. The male to female ratio was 1.4:1 and the mean (standard deviation) age was 47.8 (12.8) years. The majority of the patients (53.8%) were obese. The main reason for consultation was snoring (84%), followed by hypopnea-apnoea reported (59.4%) and daytime sleepiness (45.3%). The most common comorbidity factor was hypertension (50%), followed by decreased libido (16%) and diabetes (13.2%). A continuous positive-pressure (CPAP) machine was prescribed to 51.25% of the patients, but only 22% were able to acquire it., Conclusion: The monitoring of OSAS is relatively new in Burkina Faso. This study showed the profile of patients with OSAS and difficulties in accessing continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices for treatment., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: None.

We sought to compare the effectiveness of two World Health Organization (WHO)-recommended regimens for the treatment of rifampin- or multidrug-resistant (RR/MDR) tuberculosis (TB): a standardised regimen of 9-12 months (the "shorter regimen") and individualised regimens of ≥20 months ("longer regimens").We collected individual patient data from observational studies identified through systematic reviews and a public call for data. We included patients meeting WHO eligibility criteria for the shorter regimen: not previously treated with second-line drugs, and with fluoroquinolone- and second-line injectable agent-susceptible RR/MDR-TB. We used propensity score matched, mixed effects meta-regression to calculate adjusted odds ratios and adjusted risk differences (aRDs) for failure or relapse, death within 12 months of treatment initiation and loss to follow-up.We included 2625 out of 3378 (77.7%) individuals from nine studies of shorter regimens and 2717 out of 13 104 (20.7%) individuals from 53 studies of longer regimens. Treatment success was higher with the shorter regimen than with longer regimens (pooled proportions 80.0% versus 75.3%), due to less loss to follow-up with the former (aRD -0.15, 95% CI -0.17- -0.12). The risk difference for failure or relapse was slightly higher with the shorter regimen overall (aRD 0.02, 95% CI 0-0.05) and greater in magnitude with baseline resistance to pyrazinamide (aRD 0.12, 95% CI 0.07-0.16), prothionamide/ethionamide (aRD 0.07, 95% CI -0.01-0.16) or ethambutol (aRD 0.09, 95% CI 0.04-0.13).In patients meeting WHO criteria for its use, the standardised shorter regimen was associated with substantially less loss to follow-up during treatment compared with individualised longer regimens and with more failure or relapse in the presence of resistance to component medications. Our findings support the need to improve access to reliable drug susceptibility testing., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: S. Abidi has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: J. Achar has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: M.M. Assao Neino has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: D. Bang has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Benedetti has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: S. Brode reports grants from Insmed and the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, personal fees for educational presentations from Boehringer Ingelheim and AstraZeneca, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: J.R. Campbell has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: E. Casas has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: F. Conradie has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: G. Dravniece has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: P. du Cros reports he was previously a member of the steering committee and protocol writing committee for the PRACTECAL randomised controlled trial of three novel 6-month MDR-TB regimens; and has undertaken a paid consultancy between TB Alliance and Burnet Institute to investigate applicability of the TB-Nix regimen (a novel short MDR-TB regimen) to Papua New Guinea. Conflict of interest: D. Falzon has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: E. Jaramillo has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: C. Kuaban has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: Z. Lan has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: C. Lange reports personal fees for lectures from Chiesi, Gilead, Janssen, Lucane, Novartis, Oxoid, Berlin-Chemie and Thermo Fisher, outside the submitted work. Conflict of interest: P.Z. Li has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: M. Makhmudova has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A.K.J. Maug has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: D. Menzies has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: G.B. Migliori has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Miller reports that The Eli Lilly Foundation MDR-TB Partnership provided partial salary support in 2015–2016 through a grant to Salmaan Keshavjee, Harvard Medical School, although none of the work in the current paper or analysis was supported through that mechanism; the grant also paid for travel to a meeting in July of 2016. Conflict of interest: B. Myrzaliev has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: N. Ndjeka has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: J. Noeske has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: N. Parpieva has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Piubello has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: V. Schwoebel has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: W. Sikhondze has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: R. Singla has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: M.B. Souleymane has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Trébucq has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: A. Van Deun has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: K. Viney has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: K. Weyer has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: B.J. Zhang has nothing to disclose. Conflict of interest: F. Ahmad Khan reports grants from the World Health Organization during the conduct of the study., (The content of this work is copyright of the authors or their employers. Design and branding are copyright ©ERS 2020.)

Background: In Niger, the Shorter Treatment Regimen (STR) has been implemented nationwide for rifampicin resistant tuberculosis (RR-TB), since 2008. No previous publication has shown the results from countrywide programmatic implementation using few exclusion criteria, nor exhaustively assessed the effect of initial resistance to companion drugs on outcomes., Methods: The National Tuberculosis Programme and the Damien Foundation conducted a retrospective observational study to evaluate the management of RR-TB from 2008 to 2016. Baseline resistance to drugs was assessed phenotypically, complemented by screening the inhA, katG and pncA genes. Cured patients were followed-up for a period of one year after cure., Findings: Among 1044 patients tested for rifampicin resistance, mainly previously treated patients, 332 were diagnosed with pulmonary RR/TB, 288 were enrolled on treatment and 255 started on STR. Six patients received a modified STR. Among 249 patients on standardised STR, 207 (83·1%) were cured relapse-free, eight (3·2%) had failure, 23 (9·2%) died, seven (2·8%) were lost to follow-up and four (1·6%) relapsed. The risk of unfavourable outcome was higher in patients with initial resistance to fluoroquinolones (aOR 20·4, 95%CI:5·6-74·6) and very severely underweight (aOR 3·9, 95%CI:1·5-10·1). Successful outcome was not affected by initial resistance to companion drugs. Serious ototoxicity was reported in eight patients (3·2%)., Interpretation: A comprehensive nationwide approach to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis management using the STR was feasible and successful. Outcomes were not affected by initial resistance to companion drugs. Our study confirms the effectiveness and safety of the STR., Funding: Damien Foundation and Institute of Tropical Medicine-Antwerp., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Tuberculosis is a major public health problem and the main reason for hospital admission in developing countries. No study of tuberculosis has been undertaken in the pulmonary/tuberculosis service of Lamordé National Hospital in Niamey since its foundation in April 2009. The aim of our study is to assess the current situation of sputum positive new and relapsed cases of tuberculosis and to determine their epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic profiles. It comprised a retrospective four-year study of the records of patients hospitalized for sputum positive pulmonary tuberculosis (433 patients), both new and relapsed cases, in the pulmonary/tuberculosis service of the Lamordé National Hospital. The latter is the unique reference and management centre for lung disease for the capital of Niger. Of the 975 patients admitted to the pulmonary/tuberculosis centre 433 had sputum positive tuberculosis, both new and relapsed cases, making up 44.5% of admissions. 76.2% were male giving a sex ratio of 3.2. The mean age of the patients was 42.6 years with a range of 2-85 years. More than half of the patients (54.7%) came from the Niamey region and 68.6% were referred from there. Antecedents were tuberculosis, HIV infection and smoking in 8.3%, 6.2% and 6%, respectively. Weight loss (80.4%), productive cough (63%) and fever (68%) were the main general and functional signs identified. Sputum examination revealed the diagnosis in 99.8% of cases and 62.1% had a chest X-ray before starting treatment. Cavitation was present in 67.3% and infiltration in 46.9%. Serology for HIV was positive in 17.1%. A treatment regime was instituted in 89.6% of new cases and 10.4% of relapsed cases. The rate of recovery was 74.6% and pleurisy, which was the most common complication, developed in 5.6%. Tuberculosis constitutes the main cause of hospitalization in the pulmonary/tuberculosis service of the Lamordé National Hospital in Niamey. It is therefore necessary to educate the public and reinforce the training of health care professionals in the management of tuberculosis., (Copyright © 2019 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Aims: we measured the burden of TB/HIV co-infection in a rural setting of Benin, and assessed the outcome of tuberculosis treatment at the end of the intensive phase of TB treatment., Methods: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study, covering January 2006 to December 2011., Results: A total of 256 patients were included, 67 (26.1%) were HIV +. A minority, 25% of co-infected HIV / PTB, had TB bacilli high density (+++) versus 45% of mono-infected (P = 0.005). The smear conversion was obtained in 96% of coinfected versus 93% in HIV- at the end of the intensive phase (P = 0.5). The cure rate was 86% and 93.1% respectively in co-infected and HIV-. A proportion of 13.5% of co-infected died versus 3% in HIV- (P = 0.005). 21% of co-infected with CD4 <200 died versus 3.6% of those with CD4> 200 (P = 0.041)., Conclusion: This work underlines the high prevalence of HIV / TB co-infection in this region. Co-infected patients respond well to treatment, but their mortality is high when they are very immunocompromised., (Le comitée de rédaction se réserve le droit de revoyer aux auteurs avant toute soumission à l'avis des lecteurs les manuscrits qui ne seraient pas conformes à ces modalités de présentation. En outre il leur conseille de sonserver un examplaire du manuscrit, des figures et des tableaux.)

Aims: We measured the burden of HIV/tuberculosis (HIV/TB) co-infection in people infected by TB in rural settings of Benin, and assessed the outcome of TB treatment at the end of the intensive phase., Methods: This is a retrospective, cross-sectional, descriptive study, covering January 2006 to December 2011., Results: A total of 256 patients were gathered, 67 (26.1%) were HIV +. A proportion of 25% of co-infected HIV / PTB had TB bacilli high density (+++) versus 45% of mono-infected ( P = 0.005). The smear conversion was obtained in 96% of coinfected versus 93% in HIV- at the end of the intensive phase (P = 0.5). The cure rate was 86% and 93.1% respectively in co-infected and HIV-. A proportion of 13.5% of co-infected died versus 3% in HIV- (P = 0.005). 21% of co-infected with CD4 <200 died versus 3.6% of those with CD4> 200 (P = 0.041)., Conclusion: This work underlines the high prevalence of HIV / TB co-infection in this region. Co-infected patients respond well to treatment, but their mortality is high when they are very immunocopromissed., (Le comitée de rédaction se réserve le droit de revoyer aux auteurs avant toute soumission à l'avis des lecteurs les manuscrits qui ne seraient pas conformes à ces modalités de présentation. En outre il leur conseille de sonserver un examplaire du manuscrit, des figures et des tableaux.)