Choudhary RK, et al. - Given the association of blood monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (MLR) with active tuberculosis (TB) in adults, researchers investigated the diagnostic significance of MLR in a cohort of HIV-infected hospitalized Kenyan children. They determined absolute monocyte and lymphocyte counts in 160 children [median age 23 months; 13 (8.1%) with confirmed TB and 67 (41.9%) with unconfirmed TB] at enrollment and 4, 12, and 24 weeks thereafter. Children with confirmed TB displayed higher median MLR than the MLR in children with unconfirmed or unlikely TB. The count declined with TB treatment. Findings thus suggest a possible utility of MLR as a diagnostic tool for TB in settings where respiratory-based microbiologic confirmation is inaccessible.