DETERMINATION OF SUSCEPTIBILITY OR RESIST ANCE TO ANTITUBERCULOUS AGENTS OF MYCOBACTERIUM-TUBERCULOSIS

In certain cases of tuberculosis, such as individuals infected with HI V or patients who have had previous antituberculous treatment, it is i mportant to determine the drug susceptibility profile of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This is generally done by the proportional method of Ca netti although this is time-consuming due to the slow growth of the tu bercle bacillus. The time factor can be reduced significantly by using the radiometric method, the Bactec(R) system, although this also has some drawbacks. Some of the newer molecular approaches, such as PCR-SS CP or the luciferase reporter phage assay, offer simpler and quicker a lternatives for detecting resistance.