Rapid Molecular Screening for Multi-Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in a high volume public health laboratory.

摘要

The dual challenges to tuberculosis control of HIV infection and multi-drug resistance are particularly pressing in South Africa. Conventional methods for detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis drug resistance take weeks to months to produce results. Rapid molecular testing for drug resistance is available but has not been implemented in high-TB-burden settings. The objective was to assess the performance and feasibility of implementation of a commercially available molecular line-probe assay for rapid detection of rifampicin and isoniazid resistance. We performed the assay directly on 536 consecutive smear-positive sputum specimens from patients with increased risk of multi-drug-resistant (MDR) TB in a busy routine diagnostic laboratory in Cape Town, South Africa. Results were compared