This Week in PLoS Medicine: Health care during armed conflicts & GeneXpert

With the close of the July issue of PLoS Medicine, we publish six new articles, including the monthly editorial.

In this month’s editorial, the PLoS Medicine Editors discuss the impact of armed conflict on health care systems and announce their support of the International Health Protection Initiative’s resolution to reinforce the Geneva Conventions.

In a systematic review, Anbrasi Edward and colleagues report the results of a balanced scorecard performance system used to examine 29 key performance indicators over a 5-year period in Afghanistan, between 2004 and 2008.

In a prospective study, Stephen Lawn and colleagues find that pre-ART screening with Xpert MTB/RIF increased tuberculosis case detection by 45% compared to smear microscopy in HIV-positive patients at high risk of TB risk.

In this prospective, real-world cohort study nested within a national screening program for tuberculosis, Lesley Scott and colleagues compare the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF on a single sputum sample with different TB sputum detection technologies.

David Dowdy and colleagues discuss the complexities of costing new TB diagnostic tests, including GeneXpert, and argue that flexible analytic tools are needed for decision-makers to adapt large-sample cost-effectiveness data to local conditions.

Carlton Evans considers whether the new tuberculosis diagnostic test, GeneXpert, is the solution for TB control that it’s said to be.

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