Physiological peristaltic-like reactions of the tracheobronchial tree move pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacilli into the gastrointestinal tract

Medical improvements made upon previous knowledge are colloquially known as standing on the shoulders of giants. Tuberculosis diagnostics have improved since 2006 due to improved microfluidics and PCR technology, allowing for cartridge-based, design-locked assays. In a Correspondence1 reacting to an Article by George W Kasule and colleagues published in The Lancet Microbe,2 the author suggested that a considerable number of patients in whom Mycobacterium tuberculosis had been identified using stool Ultra, a cartridge-based automated PCR test for tuberculosis, corresponded to cases of disseminated gastrointestinal tuberculosis disease.