This study was conducted at the National Tuberculosis Center in Burkina Faso from October 2007 through May 2008. Our objective was to compare the diagnostic performance of three staining methods: Kinyoun, auramine O, and Ziehl-Neelsen. Ziehl-Neelsen staining served as the reference method to assess the diagnostic performance of Kinyoun and auramine O staining. In all, 616 sputum smears from 233 patients were read with each method to detect acid-fast bacilli. SPSS was used for data analysis. The results of auramine O staining showed positive diagnoses in 15.9% of the samples; sensitivity was 100%, specificity 95.6%, and the positive and negative predictive values 75.7% and 100% respectively. Kinyoun staining produced a positive diagnosis rate of 12%, sensitivity of 96.4%, specificity of 99.5%, and positive and negative predictive values of 96.4% and 99.5%. Our study indicates that auramine O staining had a better sensitivity for detecting acid-fast bacilli than Kinyoun staining. Accordingly, the use of auramine O staining should increase the detection rate for pulmonary tuberculosis in Burkina Faso.

The effect of helminthiasis on host immunity is a neglected area of research, particularly in tuberculosis (TB) infection. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of helminthiasis on immunological and haematological parameters in newly diagnosed TB patients in Bobo-Dioulasso. After all biological analyses, we formed three subpopulations: group 1 (n = 82), as control, were participants without helminthic or Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex infection (Mtb−/Helm−), group 2 (n = 73) were TB patients without helminthic infection (Mtb+/Helm−), and group 3 (n = 22) were TB patients with helminthic infection (Mtb+/Helm+). The proportion of helminth coinfection was 23.16% (22/95) in TB patients, and Schistosoma mansoni infection was found in 77.3% (17/22) cases of helminthiasis observed in this study. A low CD4 T cell count and a low CD4:CD8 ratio were significantly associated with concomitant infection with helminths and the Mtb complex (Mtb+/Helm+) compared to the other groups (p < 0.05). However, there was no statistically significant difference in the CD8 median among the three participating groups (p > 0.05). Lymphopenia, monocytosis, thrombocytosis, and hypochromic microcytic anaemia were the haematological defects observed in the Mtb+/Helm+ and Mtb+/Helm− patients. Exploring these types of immune–haematological biomarkers would be a valuable aid in diagnosing and a better follow-up and monitoring of the tuberculosis–helminthiasis coinfection.