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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, February 2004, p. 871-873, Vol. 42, No. 2
0095-1137/04/$08.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JCM.42.2.871-873.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Armauer Hansen Research Institute,1 St. Peter Tuberculosis Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia,3 Departments of Internal Medicine and Molecular Microbiology, Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Saint Louis University Health Sciences Center, St. Louis, Missouri,2 Department of Medical Microbiology, Dermatology and Infection, Lund University, Lund, Sweden4
Received 26 June 2003/ Returned for modification 18 September 2003/ Accepted 23 October 2003
The colorimetric 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was standardized for direct detection of rifampin-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum samples. The sensitivity and specificity of the direct MTT assay matched those of the standard indirect susceptibility assay on 7H10 medium, and interpretable results were obtained for 98.5% of the samples within 2 weeks. Traditional methods of in vitro drug susceptibility testing are time consuming and laborious. Susceptibility tests on clinical isolates require 6 to 9 weeks, and tests conducted directly on smear-positive samples take about 3 weeks (International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, The public health service national tuberculosis reference laboratory and the national laboratory network. Minimum requirements, role and operation in a low-income country, Paris, France, 1998, and P. T. Kent and G. P. Kubica, Public health mycobacteriology. A guide for the level III laboratory, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Ga., 1985). More-rapid methods are available but are very expensive for routine use under program conditions in countries with high levels of tuberculosis endemicity.
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