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Open research questions in Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis

85 gap statements mined from Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 525 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

Choosing where to publish on Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis? See the ranked Medicine journals.

What the literature leaves open

  • There is a need for larger, multi-centre studies to confirm the findings. There is a lack of data on the long-term outcomes of spinal TB patients in low-and middle-income countries.

    Epidemiological and clinical review of spinal Tuberculosis at a Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Nigeria · 2026 · DOI

  • Malnutrition is a significant challenge in managing tuberculous meningoencephalitis. Limited access to healthcare and poor nutritional status are challenges in developing countries.

    Clinical profile of tuberculous meningoencephalitis in pediatric patients at a tertiary care center · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a need to improve outcomes in childhood tuberculous meningoencephalitis. The impact of BCG vaccination and nutritional status on disease severity and outcomes is not well understood.

    Clinical profile of tuberculous meningoencephalitis in pediatric patients at a tertiary care center · 2026 · DOI

  • The case highlights the difficulties faced in diagnosing TBM in children, particularly in resource-limited settings. Delays in diagnosis and treatment can lead to severe consequences. The availability of diagnostic tools and healthcare infrastructure is limited in some settings.

    Paediatric Tuberculous Meningitis Supported by Stool-Based GeneXpert and Complementary Radiologic Findings in Somalia: A Case Report · 2026 · DOI

  • Spinal tuberculosis is a complex disease that requires proper surgical management. The disease can lead to significant morbidity and mortality if left untreated or improperly managed. The study highlights the challenges of managing spinal tuberculosis, including the need for proper surgical techniques.

    Surgical Management and Clinical Outcomes of Spinal Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Current Concepts and Strategies · 2026 · DOI

  • The study highlights the need for a comprehensive review of current concepts and strategies in the surgical management of spinal tuberculosis.

    Surgical Management and Clinical Outcomes of Spinal Tuberculosis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Current Concepts and Strategies · 2026 · DOI

  • One prominent limitation of this study is the imbalanced sample size among the three groups: 247 cases of STB, 92 cases of PS, and 142 cases of endplate osteochondritis.

    LASSO regression-based machine learning model for differentiating spinal tuberculosis, pyogenic spondylitis, and endplate osteochondritis: development and clinical application · 2026 · DOI

  • The need for more effective and efficient diagnostic methods for tuberculosis. The need for more research on the use of artificial intelligence in tuberculosis diagnosis.

    Tuberkuliozės diagnostikos ir gydymo naujienos · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of awareness about the possibility of M.caprae causing human disease. There is a need for increased recognition of intestinal tuberculosis as a potential cause of chronic abdominal pain, diarrhea, and weight loss.

    Mycobacterium caprae Nedeniyle Gelişen ve Karsinomla Karışan Çekum Tüberkülozu: Bir Olgu Sunumu ve Literatür İncelemesi · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of reports documenting the progression of pyelonephritis to iliopsoas abscess and sacroiliitis. The exact pathogenetic mechanism linking the initial pyelonephritis and the subsequent development of MRSA iliopsoas abscess and sacroiliitis is not well understood.

    ILIOPSOAS ABSCESS SECONDARY TO PYELONEPHRITIS WITH SUBSEQUENT UNILATERAL SACROILIITIS PRESENTING AS LOW BACK PAIN IN A YOUNG ADULT: A CASE REPORT · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of awareness of spinal tuberculosis as a rare complication of PVP/PKP. The difficulty in diagnosing spinal tuberculosis due to its nonspecific clinical and imaging features.

    Case Report: Diagnostic and therapeutic challenges of secondary spinal tuberculosis following percutaneous vertebroplasty: a case of staged surgery with bone cement retention report · 2026 · DOI

  • The selected studies suggest that management of STB is best understood as a sequence of distinct clinical decision points: identifying probable disease early, refining diagnosis when standard investigations are insufficient, selecting an appropriate operative strategy when surgery is indicated, and determining when biological healing has occurred.

    AO Spine Clinical Practice Recommendations for the Management of Spinal Tuberculosis · 2026 · DOI

  • The incidence of hypercalcemia in miliary tuberculosis is not well established. The clinical profile and treatment correlation of hypercalcemia in patients with miliary tuberculosis are not well understood.

    Calcium Crisis in the Shadows of Miliary Tuberculosis: A Prospective Study · 2026 · DOI

  • The limited sensitivity of conventional microbiological approaches for spinal infection diagnosis. The lack of established incremental clinical value of metagenomic next-generation sequencing for spinal infection diagnosis. The need for integrated diagnostic strategies that combine clinical variables and microbiological information.

    Integrating metagenomic next-generation sequencing into a multimodal diagnostic framework for spinal infection: enhancing etiological identification and clinical prediction · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of a gold standard diagnostic method for patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction makes diagnosis challenging. Patients with patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction often report non-specific symptoms, leading to confusion with other conditions. The condition can lead to significant aural symptoms and is an important etiological factor in retraction-type middle ear diseases.

    Diagnosing patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction using the nine-step and inflation tests · 2026 · DOI

  • A gold standard diagnostic method for patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction has not been established. Prior studies have noted reduced tubal opening pressure in patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction, but quantitative cutoff values for the inflation test have not been established.

    Diagnosing patulous Eustachian tube dysfunction using the nine-step and inflation tests · 2026 · DOI

  • There is a lack of standardization in the measurement of intraoperative blood loss. The absence of reported standard deviations in some included studies limits the ability to control unmeasured confounders. The nonrandomized nature of the studies included in the meta-analysis limits the ability to control unmeasured confounders.

    Minimally Invasive vs Open Surgery for the Treatment of Spinal Spondylodiscitis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis · 2026 · DOI

  • The optimal surgical strategies for elderly patients with spinal tuberculosis remain uncertain. There is a lack of studies on the clinical outcomes of individualized staged management pathways for elderly patients with spinal TB.

    Clinical outcomes of individualized surgical pathways in elderly patients with spinal tuberculosis: a retrospective cohort study in eastern China · 2026 · DOI

  • Although the clinical manifestations and immunopathology are well-characterized, the genetic determinants underlying TB-IRIS susceptibility remain poorly defined.

    Novel genetic variants in tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome · 2026 · DOI

  • Lumbar tuberculosis (LTB) is a significant global health concern, often requiring surgical intervention when medical treatment is insufficient.

    Evaluation of the efficacy of retroperitoneoscopic debridement for lumbar tuberculosis: a retrospective study and preliminary results · 2026 · DOI

  • Delayed diagnosis and limited access to advanced microbiological testing. Barriers to long-term follow-up. Limited resources in low-and middle-income countries.

    Epidemiological and clinical review of spinal Tuberculosis at a Regional Orthopaedic Hospital in Nigeria · 2026 · DOI

  • Fifth, DILI source adjudication used liver biochemistry and excluded results obtained only in the final 24 h before death, but the harmonized dataset lacked event dates, uniformly detailed serial biochemistry, and individual-drug causality; the exposure-to- DILI sequence could not be determined, and non-hepatic toxicities were not systematically captured.

    Associations of recorded in-hospital linezolid and fluoroquinolone exposure with mortality and documented drug-induced liver injury in non-HIV tuberculous meningitis: a propensity score-weighted real-world cohort study · 2026 · DOI

  • Unilateral biportal endoscopy (UBE) has been increasingly applied to spinal infection, but its use for extensive thoracic SEA has rarely been reported.

    Case of unilateral biportal endoscopic management of multilevel thoracic spinal epidural abscess with acute paraplegia · 2026 · DOI

  • The interval between initial symptom onset and diagnosis of foot and ankle TB varies widely across studies; reports have described delays exceeding one year, consistent 894 Volume 06 Issue 05 May 2026 Corresponding Author: Brigita Ficellia Maria…

    A Rare Presentation of Osteoarticular Tuberculosis in a Child with Chronic Foot Swelling: A Case Report · 2026 · DOI

  • La meningitis tuberculosa, significa un reto hoy en día difícil de diagnosticar y de tratar. La tuberculosis meníngea es una enfermedad que afecta a los niños en menor proporción.

    Tuberculosis meníngea en pediatría: Reporte de un caso · 2026 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) There is a need for larger, multi-centre studies to confirm the findings (“Epidemiological and clinical review of spinal Tuberculosis at a Regional…”, 2026); (2) There is a need to improve outcomes in childhood tuberculous meningoencephalitis (“Clinical profile of tuberculous meningoencephalitis in pediatric patients at a…”, 2026); (3) There is a lack of awareness about the possibility of M.caprae causing human disease (“Mycobacterium caprae Nedeniyle Gelişen ve Karsinomla Karışan Çekum Tüberkülozu:…”, 2026); (4) There is a lack of reports documenting the progression of pyelonephritis to iliopsoas abscess and sacroiliitis (“ILIOPSOAS ABSCESS SECONDARY TO PYELONEPHRITIS WITH SUBSEQUENT UNILATERAL…”, 2026); (5) The lack of awareness of spinal tuberculosis as a rare complication of PVP/PKP (“Case Report: Diagnostic and therapeutic challenges of secondary spinal…”, 2026). 85 gap statements have been mined from Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 525 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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