Has universal screening with Xpert® MTB/RIF increased the proportion of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis cases diagnosed in a routine operational setting?

Universal screening for drug susceptibility in all presumptive TB cases in the Xpert-based algorithm resulted in a higher overall proportion of MDR-TB cases being diagnosed and is an important strategy in reducing transmission. The previous strategy of only screening new TB cases when 1st line treatment failed did not compensate for cases missed pre-treatment.