ArticleNature communications2026
Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission from tuberculosis patients with and without recognized symptoms: a case-contact study in eastern China.
Article in Nature communications, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Lung Resident T Cells Across the Spectrum of TB Infection and Disease.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A large number of tuberculosis patients manifest with minimal or no symptoms, and the infectiousness of these individuals is not well characterized. Index cases were consecutively enrolled from the four health centers in Jiangsu Province. Symptoms among index cases were assessed covering the 3 months prior to diagnostic evaluation, in addition to those present at the time of diagnosis. Concurrently, one control community was selected for QuantiFERON screening. Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection was measured through QuantiFERON for all groups. 1,050 contacts of 473 tuberculosis patients, and 560 unexposed controls were included. Asymptomatic tuberculosis among index cases varied from 15% (no symptoms), to 24% (no cough), and 44% (no prolonged cough). The relative risk of QuantiFERON positivity was higher than controls compared to contacts of both asymptomatic (aRR; 2.06; 1.28-3.33) and symptomatic tuberculosis patients (aRR; 2.23; 1.66-3.01). When using alternative QuantiFERON cutoffs, the relative risk was consistently higher among both contact groups compared to controls. When comparing contacts of symptomatic and asymptomatic tuberculosis patients, similar rates of QuantiFERON and ESAT6-CFP10 skin test levels were seen, regardless of the cutoff. This study suggests that tuberculosis patients that are minimally symptomatic or without recognized symptoms may be infectious.
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