Evaluation of trisodium phosphate as a transport medium and its utility in a single-step decontamination technique for the culture of m.Tuberculosis

摘要

Sputum specimens were received from various out-patient departments of a tertiary care referral hospital to acid-fast staining and mycobacterial culture.A simple, one-step decontamination and concentration method was adopted before subjecting the samples to acid-fast staining and mycobacterial culture. Trisodium phosphate, a cheap, "soft" decontaminant-cum-liquefying agent was used to treat the sputum specimens before Ziehl-Neelsen's (ZN) acid-fast staining and Lowenstein-Jensen's (LJ) medium culture. The sputum samples were collected directly into trisodium phosphate containing screw capped McCartney bottles (Day-0). The bottles were vortexed and left overnight at room temperature. On the subsequent morning (Day-1), the supernatants were discarded and smears made from deposits were stained by ZN stain.