A. Menevse et al., RAPID DETECTION OF MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS IN CLINICAL-SAMPLES BY POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION, Tohoku Journal of Experimental Medicine, 179(1), 1996, pp. 1-9
A polymerase chain reaction for the rapid and specific detection of My
cobacterium tuberculosis has been used and evaluated for clinical appl
icability. Two oligonucleotide primers derived from the nucleotide seq
uence of a immunogenic protein MPB 64 amplified DNA from M. tuberculos
is and M. bovis. No amplification was observed from any of ten differe
nt mycobacterial strains. A total of 126 clinical samples were amplifi
ed and tested by both dot blot hybridization and restriction enzyme an
alysis. M. tuberculosis was detected by PCR in 38 smear and 42 culture
positive cases An additional 16 culture negative specimens mere PCR p
ositive yielding an overall M. tuberculosis positivity rate of 46.0% (
58/126) compared to 33.3% (42/126) by culture. The superior sensitivit
y of PCR to culture was more evident in non-pulmonary cases where PCR
picked up 10 cases in addition to 6 culture positives out of 46 specim
ens. On the other hand, out of 80 pulmonary specimens only 6 cases in
addition to 36 culture positives mere picked up by PCR. The specificit
y of PCR was confirmed with dot blot hybridization and restriction enz
yme analysis. This study corroborates that PCR offers a more sensitive
and rapid alternative for the detection of M. tuberculosis to culture
, and that it can be used in uncultured clinical specicimens.