About the Authors

Luis Eduardo Cuevas

lcuevas@liv.ac.uk

Affiliations Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom, United Nations Children's Fund/United Nations Development Programme/World Bank/World Health Organization Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland

Mohammed Ahmed Yassin

Affiliation Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Najla Al-Sonboli

Affiliation Medical Faculty, Sana'a University, Sana'a, Yemen

Lovett Lawson

Affiliation Zankli Medical Center, Abuja, Nigeria

Isabel Arbide

Affiliation Bushullo Major Health Centre, Awassa, Ethiopia

Nasher Al-Aghbari

Affiliation National Tuberculosis Institute, Sana'a, Yemen

Jeevan Bahadur Sherchand

Affiliation Tribhuvan University Institute of Medicine, Kathmandu, Nepal

Amin Al-Absi

Affiliation National Tuberculosis Institute, Sana'a, Yemen

Emmanuel Nnamdi Emenyonu

Affiliation Zankli Medical Center, Abuja, Nigeria

Yared Merid

Affiliation Southern Region Health Bureau, Awassa, Ethiopia

Mosis Ifenyi Okobi

Affiliation Wuse General Hospital, Abuja, Nigeria

Juliana Olubunmi Onuoha

Affiliation Zankli Medical Center, Abuja, Nigeria

Melkamsew Aschalew

Affiliation Southern Region Health Bureau, Awassa, Ethiopia

Abraham Aseffa

Affiliation Armauer Hansen Research Institute, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Greg Harper

Affiliation Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Rachel Mary Anderson de Cuevas

Affiliation Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Kristin Kremer

Affiliation Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Dick van Soolingen

Affiliation Tuberculosis Reference Laboratory, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

Carl-Michael Nathanson

Affiliation United Nations Children's Fund/United Nations Development Programme/World Bank/World Health Organization Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland

Jean Joly

Affiliation United Nations Children's Fund/United Nations Development Programme/World Bank/World Health Organization Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland

Brian Faragher

Affiliation Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Stephen Bertel Squire

Affiliation Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool, United Kingdom

Andrew Ramsay

Affiliation United Nations Children's Fund/United Nations Development Programme/World Bank/World Health Organization Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, Switzerland

Competing Interests

AR is employed by WHO/TDR the organization which administered the USAID and BMGF grants that funded the study. AR is Secretary of the New Diagnostics Working Group, Stop TB Partnership.

Author Contributions

ICMJE criteria for authorship read and met: LEC MAY NAS LL IA NAA JBS AAA ENE YM MIO JOO MA AA GH RMAdC KK DvS CMN JJ BF SBS AR. Agree with the manuscript's results and conclusions: LEC MAY NAS LL IA NAA JBS AAA ENE YM MIO JOO MA AA GH RMAdC KK DvS CMN JJ BF SBS AR. Designed the experiments/the study: LEC MAY JJ BF AR. Analyzed the data: LEC MAY JBS RMAdC KK DvS BF AR. Collected data/did experiments for the study: NAS LL IA NAA JBS ENE YM MIO JOO MA AA GH RMAdC KK. Enrolled patients: NAS IA NAA JBS AAA ENE MIO JOO. Wrote the first draft of the paper: LEC MAY AR. Contributed to the writing of the paper: LEC MAY NAS LL NAA JBS AA RMAdC KK DvS CMN BF SBS AR. Principal Investigator: LEC. Initiators of the study: LEC MAY. Co-principal Investigator: MAY. Responsible for and supervised study in Yemen: NA-S. Responsible for and supervised study in Nigeria: LL. Responsible for and supervised the study in Bushulo Major Health Centre, Ethiopia: IA. Responsible for and supervised study in Yemen: NA-A. Responsible for and supervised study in Nepal: JBS. Responsible for the laboratory experiments conducted for the study in Nigeria: ENE. Contributed to laboratory testing, culture of specimens, and implementation of the EQA in Ethiopia: YM AA. Collection and examination of sputum samples in the laboratory: JOO. Contributed to EQA: GH. Contribution to overall management of study at international level: AR.