Patient inclusion

This study was performed at the Tuberculosis Research Laboratory, Division of Clinical Microbiology and Molecular Medicines, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. The total duration of the study was three years from April 2012 to March 2015. All the patients were recruited at the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases (NITRD), New Delhi. As a standard protocol in India, all TB suspected cases are tested for HIV as per the standard guidelines issued by the National AIDS Control Organization and WHO. The inclusion criteria were all HIV-positive patients suspected of concomitant tuberculosis infection and clinically suspected patients with pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) and/or extra-pulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB). Informed consent was obtained from all the recruited cases. However, we excluded patients taking anti-tuberculous treatment (ATT) for more than two weeks at the time of recruitment, patients under immune-suppressive treatment, and pregnant female patients. This study was approved by the Institutional Ethics Committees of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, and the National Institute of Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases, New Delhi.