Se. Hoffner et al., RNA AMPLIFICATION FOR DIRECT-DETECTION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS IN RESPIRATORY SAMPLES, Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases, 28(1), 1996, pp. 59-61
A target amplified test system (AMTDT, Gen-Probe, San Diego, Californi
a, USA) was compared with conventional standard methods in the detecti
on of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in sputum and other respiratory speci
mens from patients with suspected tuberculosis, The highest incidence
of positive samples was seen with the AMTDT test, Out of 450 samples f
rom patients with known or suspected tuberculosis, 43 (9.6%) were posi
tive by culture, and 47 (10.4%) with AMTDT. After discrepancy analysis
, 7 of the culture-negative but AMTDT-positive samples were judged to
be true positive, giving the AMTDT a sensitivity of 92.0% and a specif
icity of 99.8%. The AMTDT test was rapid, easy to perform, sensitive,
and highly specific.