Clinical Infectious Diseases

Not All Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis Is Equal: Site-Specific Mortality in a National Indian Cohort

Singh UB, DiBona K, Shaikh S et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: National cohort study (Indian programme data; design details such as retrospective vs prospective not stated in abstract).
Key Question: How does in-treatment mortality differ by anatomical site among adults with extrapulmonary TB, and do comorbidity associations vary by site?
Key Findings:
  • Among 777,512 adults, mortality varied more than tenfold by site. Highest-risk sites (adjusted OR vs lymph node TB): tuberculous meningitis 12.48, miliary 5.17, pericardial 3.86.
  • Associations of HIV, diabetes, alcohol and tobacco use with mortality differed by site rather than being uniform.
  • Absolute mortality rates, confidence intervals and the full site ranking are not provided in the abstract.
Clinical Relevance: Supports site-specific risk stratification and closer monitoring in UK EPTB management, particularly where meningeal, miliary or pericardial disease coexists with HIV or diabetes, though Indian programme data may not translate directly to NHS settings.
Limitations: Programme-level observational data are likely subject to confounding and incomplete site and comorbidity ascertainment; abstract lacks detail to assess this.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

Fleming Fund Implementation in Kenya: What Have We Learned About Strengthening One Health Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance for Decision-making?

Wesangula E, Gitonga N, Tanui E et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: Narrative programmatic overview (non-systematic; draws on surveillance reports, monitoring frameworks, qualitative governance evidence and Fleming Fund documentation).
Key Question: How did Fleming Fund support change Kenya's AMR surveillance, and what lessons apply to operationalising One Health surveillance in other LMICs?
Key Findings:
  • Surveillance sites expanded from 2 (human health only) in 2018 to 30 across human, animal and environmental sectors by 2025.
  • National reports now integrate AMR, antimicrobial consumption and use data; routine reporting to global platforms matured; outputs reportedly informed stewardship, IPC, regulatory and policy decisions.
  • WHO Joint External Evaluation scores moved from "limited" to "demonstrated" capacity for surveillance and multisectoral coordination.
Clinical Relevance: Offers a transferable model for UK-funded global AMR capacity building and for interpreting Kenyan and wider East African resistance data feeding into UK/global surveillance and travel-related resistance risk.
Limitations: Descriptive and non-systematic, with no quantitative outcome measures of data quality or clinical impact, and likely programme-favourable reporting bias given authors' involvement in implementation.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

Reflections for the Future of AMR Surveillance and AMR Action

Chandler CIR, Abbas S, Amir A et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: Participatory synthesis / consensus-based reflection paper (non-systematic; qualitative, expert-informed).
Key Question: What lessons from nearly 10 years of the UK-funded Fleming Fund should shape the future of AMR surveillance and AMR action in low- and middle-income countries?
Key Findings:
  • The Fleming Fund achieved significant improvements in AMR surveillance, though the abstract gives no quantitative outcomes.
  • Barriers and enablers centred on how surveillance is positioned, funded, used, and innovated upon.
  • Sustainability requires a "sharpened" system, with narrower scope, frequency, and depth of data focused on informing action, and country-led approaches supported by streamlined investment.
Clinical Relevance: As the Fleming Fund is a UK-government programme, this signals the direction of UK-backed global AMR surveillance and the sustainability risks to data underpinning international resistance trends.
Limitations: Consensus-based synthesis among Fleming Fund-affiliated contributors, with no stated systematic methods or quantitative evaluation, raises risk of selection and affiliation bias.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

The Fleming Fund: Key Features of Design and Approach to Strengthening Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Shorten T, Clarke J, Drake A et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: Programme case study / descriptive policy analysis, drawing on programme documentation, evaluation evidence and stakeholder perspectives. Methods are not detailed in the abstract.
Key Question: How was the UK-funded Fleming Fund designed and delivered to strengthen AMR surveillance in LMICs, and what lessons emerge for future investments?
Key Findings:
  • The Fund (established 2015, up to £498 million) supported surveillance across 25 countries in Africa and Asia using a One Health approach, combining laboratory strengthening, workforce development, data systems, quality assurance, sampling pathways and multisectoral coordination.
  • Phase 2 shifted emphasis from data generation to data interpretation, dissemination and use in policy and practice.
  • The authors conclude that moving from externally supported capacity building to sustainable national surveillance requires substantial time, coordination and institutional embedding. No quantitative outcome data are reported in the abstract.
Clinical Relevance: As a UK Government-funded programme, it informs UK Global AMR strategy and the quality of global resistance data underpinning empirical prescribing, travel-associated infection guidance and international AMR policy.
Limitations: The abstract describes a narrative programme analysis with no stated outcome measures, comparators or quantitative impact data, so effectiveness cannot be judged; authors may also have programme affiliations.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

Generating Actionable Data From Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance: Insights From the Fleming Fund's International Experience

Gupta-Wright A, Adeleke SY, Adetunji V et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: Programme review/narrative synthesis (programme experience, country implementation evidence and published literature; not original comparative research).
Key Question: How did the UK-funded Fleming Fund operationalise AMR surveillance in African and Asian LMICs, and what lessons emerge for future global strategies?
Key Findings:
  • Investments across laboratories, workforce, quality assurance, data systems and governance increased routine bacteriology and AST volumes, strengthened reference laboratory capacity, raised external quality assessment participation, and expanded reporting to WHO GLASS. The abstract gives no quantitative figures.
  • Progress was uneven and fragile, limited by supply chain and procurement problems, workforce turnover, fragmented data systems, weak clinical-laboratory links, poor representativeness and uncertain financing.
  • Authors conclude that surveillance strengthening is feasible but needs sustained, system-wide investment, integration with clinical care, stronger digital/analytical capacity, broader diagnostic access and domestic financing.
Clinical Relevance: As a UK-funded programme, it informs UK global health investment and the interpretation of GLASS-reported resistance data from regions relevant to travel-associated and imported infections.
Limitations: Programme-derived narrative without a defined methodology or quantitative outcomes in the abstract, so impact and causal attribution cannot be assessed.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

Antimicrobial Resistance and One Health: Lessons on One Health Governance and Implementation from the Fleming Fund

Abbas SS, Maudling R, Andremont A et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: Narrative reflection / lessons-learned commentary on programme implementation (not original research; no formal methodology described).
Key Question: What practical lessons from the Fleming Fund's One Health AMR programmes across 25 countries should shape the design of future One Health initiatives?
Key Findings:
  • One Health should be framed as an approach to problem-solving and action, with scope for national adaptation, rather than a programme deliverable.
  • Meaningful engagement needs sustained investment in animal and environmental sectors; otherwise participation risks being symbolic.
  • Surveillance should reflect each sector's role and needs, with capacity for joint data interpretation. Multisectoral coordination costs should be explicitly funded, and both formal governance and informal professional networks recognised as essential.
  • No quantitative outcome data are reported in the abstract.
Clinical Relevance: Relevant to clinicians contributing to UK-funded global AMR surveillance and to national One Health strategy, including the UK National Action Plan, where integration of human, animal and environmental data remains a challenge.
Limitations: Findings rest on programme experience rather than systematic evaluation, with no outcome measures, comparators or described methods, limiting causal inference and generalisability.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

Surveillance Data Use Through the Fleming Fund: Informing Action on Antimicrobial Resistance in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Drake A, Ofori A, Rahmadanti A et al. · 2026 Oct 19
Study Type: Participatory narrative synthesis (programme experience review); not a formal systematic review or comparative study.
Key Question: How has AMR surveillance data supported by the Fleming Fund (2018-2026) been used to inform action across facility, subnational, national and regional levels in LMICs?
Key Findings:
  • Data use was clearest at facility level in human health, informing antimicrobial stewardship, infection prevention and control, and quality improvement; other sectors needed different approaches.
  • At national level, Fleming Fund investment was associated (not shown to be causal) with revised treatment guidelines, essential medicines list updates and regulatory measures, mainly via governance and policy communities.
  • Surveillance was more likely to inform action when data use was built into system design and driven by local priorities. No quantitative outcomes are reported in the abstract.
Clinical Relevance: As a major UK-funded global AMR programme, it offers lessons for UK-linked global health work and for designing surveillance that feeds stewardship, though it has limited direct bearing on NHS practice.
Limitations: The narrative, participatory design carries risk of programme-author bias and provides no quantitative or comparative evidence of impact on resistance or patient outcomes.
Clinical Infectious Diseases

Enabling Ciprofloxacin Resistance-Guided Therapy for Neisseria gonorrhoeae: Aligning Diagnostics, Regulation, Guidelines, and Reimbursement

Trainor BW, Osborn JL, Klausner JD et al. · 2026 Oct 22
Study Type: Meeting report / commentary summarising a multidisciplinary stakeholder consensus discussion (December 2025); not original research.
Key Question: What coordinated pathway across diagnostics, regulation, guidelines and reimbursement would enable ciprofloxacin resistance-guided oral therapy for gonorrhoea in the US?
Key Findings:
  • Ciprofloxacin resistance in *N. gonorrhoeae* is predominantly driven by a single gyrA codon 91 mutation, which molecular assays can use to predict susceptibility reliably (no performance data given in abstract).
  • ARLG is running a multicentre, multi-manufacturer study to generate regulatory-grade data supporting FDA submissions for NAAT-based susceptibility prediction.
  • Delivering this strategy requires alignment across regulation, guidelines, reimbursement and implementation; specific recommendations are not detailed in the abstract.
Clinical Relevance: Resistance-guided oral therapy could reduce reliance on intramuscular ceftriaxone, supporting antimicrobial stewardship goals relevant to UK practice, where ceftriaxone is also first-line and ceftriaxone-resistant strains are a growing concern.
Limitations: US-focused, non-empirical meeting summary with no clinical performance or outcome data presented in the abstract.

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