DETECTION OF MYCOBACTERIUM TUBERCULOSIS COMPLEX IN CLINICALLY SUSPECTED CASES OF TUBERCULOSIS BY AUTOMATED CULTURE METHOD AND NESTED POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION

BACKGROUND In India, one of the major health problems that has a high mortality rate is Tuberculosis. Thus, rapid detection is a great necessity in today's scenario to combat the threat. We wanted to assess the diagnostic utility of liquid broth based automated culture technique in comparison with molecular technique i.e. PCR for diagnosis of suspected cases of pulmonary tuberculosis. METHODS It is a cross-sectional study in which 370 specimens collected from different wards and OPDs at C.S.S.H, Subharti Medical College were processed for Mycobacterium tuberculosis by three methods: Ziehl-Neelsen staining, automated liquid culture and by PCR amplification in which insertion element IS6110 with 123 bp fragment of M. tuberculosis complex were targeted by primers. Liquid culture method was taken as the ideal method. RESULTS Out of the 370 samples, acid fast bacilli were seen in 52 samples by ZN staining, by BacT/ALERT 3D culture, 89 were positive for mycobacteria and 119 samples were positive by PCR. Significant statistical difference was observed between PCR and Smear microscopy (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS This study shows the usefulness of IS6110-based polymerase chain reaction in detecting tuberculosis cases in tertiary care hospitals in Western Uttar Pradesh which were negative by other tests. Thus, PCR is a rapid and highly sensitive test.