Latest publications for March from Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group

One new Cochrane protocol, one new Cochrane review, and two updated COVID-19 Cochrane reviews are in Issue 3, 2021 of the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews.

New Protocol

• Medley N, Taylor M, van Wyk SS, Oliver S. Community views on active case finding for tuberculosis in low‐ and middle‐income countries: a qualitative evidence synthesis. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD014756. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD014756.

New Cochrane Review

• Shapiro AE, Ross JM, Yao M, Schiller I, Kohli M, Dendukuri N, Steingart KR, Horne DJ. Xpert MTB/RIF and Xpert Ultra assays for screening for pulmonary tuberculosis and rifampicin resistance in adults, irrespective of signs or symptoms. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD013694. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013694.pub2.

Two updated COVID 19 DTA Reviews

• Dinnes J, Deeks JJ, Berhane S, Taylor M, Adriano A, Davenport C, Dittrich S, Emperador D, Takwoingi Y, Cunningham J, Beese S, Domen J, Dretzke J, Ferrante di Ruffano L, Harris IM, Price MJ, Taylor-Phillips S, Hooft L, Leeflang MMG, McInnes MDF, Spijker R, Van den Bruel A. Rapid, point‐of‐care antigen and molecular‐based tests for diagnosis of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD013705. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013705.pub2

• Islam N, Ebrahimzadeh S, Salameh J-P, Kazi S, Fabiano N, Treanor L, Absi M, Hallgrimson Z, Leeflang MMG, Hooft L, Pol CB, Prager R, Hare SS, Dennie C, Spijker R, Deeks JJ, Dinnes J, Jenniskens K, Korevaar DA, Cohen JF, Van den Bruel A, Takwoingi Y, de Wijgert J, Damen JAAG, Wang J, McInnes MDF. Thoracic imaging tests for the diagnosis of COVID‐19. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2021, Issue 3. Art. No.: CD013639. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD013639.pub4.

Featured review on Cochrane.org

In addition, this month:

• An updated Cochrane Special Collection on diagnosing tuberculosis was released for World Tuberculosis Day (24 March 2021): View the Special Collection: Diagnosing Tuberculosis

• Cochrane editorial published ‘Contested effects and chaotic policies: the 2020 story of (hydroxy) chloroquine for treating COVID‐19’: www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.ED000151/full

The CIDG editorial base is located at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, UK. The CIDG is led by Professor Paul Garner (Co-ordinating Editor) and Deirdre Walshe (Managing Editor). Over 600 authors from some 52 countries contribute to the preparation of the Cochrane Reviews. They are supported by an international team of Editors, each with topic or methodological expertise.

The CIDG’s main areas of work are on determination of the effects of interventions on the prevention or treatment infectious diseases of relevance to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, particularly malaria, tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, and neglected tropical diseases. The aims of the CIDG are to impact on policy and research in tropical diseases through the production of high quality and relevant systematic reviews, and to lead developments in review quality improvement and effective dissemination of findings.