Clinical utility of C-reactive protein-based triage for presumptive pulmonary tuberculosis in South African adults

•CRP has good diagnostic accuracy for pulmonary TB among symptomatic adults.•At ≥10 mg/L CRP approaches, but fails to meet, WHO benchmarks for a TB triage test.•CRP may still offer clinical utility to prioritize use of confirmatory tests.•Performance is similar across key risk groups for TB including people living with HIV.•Clinical utility of CRP is dependent on target population TB prevalence.