Davis, J. LucianDowdy, David W.Boon, Saskia denWalter, Nicholas D.Katamba, AchillesCattamanchi, Adithya2023-01-192023-01-192012Davis, J. L., Dowdy, D. W., Den Boon, S., Walter, N. D., Katamba, A., & Cattamanchi, A. (2012). Test and treat: a new standard for smear-positive tuberculosis. Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999), 61(1), e6. doi:10.1097/QAI.0b013e3182614bc510.1097/QAI.0b013e3182614bc5https://nru.uncst.go.ug/handle/123456789/7078Optimizing sputum smear microscopy, the principal method of tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in high-burden settings around the world, is a critical priority for global TB control. To improve rates of testing, completion, and reporting, the World Health Organization (WHO) recently endorsed a policy of same-day diagnosis of TB by microscopy. Unfortunately, the implementation of this policy has emphasized same-day sputum collection alone, with patients required to return on a subsequent day to collect results. We use a simple decision analysis to demonstrate that the timing of results reporting has a greater impact on treatment initiation for smear-positive TB cases than the timing of specimen collection. Same-day diagnosis of smear-positive TB, including sputum collection and reporting of smear results, should be the new global standard.enTuberculosisModelingDecision analysisSmear microscopySame-day diagnosisSame-day treatmentArticle