STUDY OF CUT-OFF POINTS USING CHEMOLUMINISCENT PROBES TO IDENTIFY MYCOBACTERIA

441 strain of mycobacteria were exposed to probes marked with luminous material belonged to M. tuberculosis complex and M. avium complex. We analyzed the following points: 1. If the cut off points obtained with our strains were in accordance to those recommended by the manufactur er, using two different luminometers. 2. If the correlation constant m akes possible the convertion of the units form one luminometer to the units obtained with the other one. 3. Data for sensibility, specificit y and predictive positive and negative values using different cut off points. Cut off points were differents in all cases except for the dat a obtained with one luminometer using a probe belonged to M. tuberculo sis complex. In this case the correlation constant could not be used. In contrast, whiever the luminometer employed was, we found no signifi ct differences between sensibility, specificity and predictive values.