RAPID DETECTION OF MYCOBACTERIA IN CLINICAL SPECIMENS BY USING THE AUTOMATED BACTEC-9000-MB SYSTEM AND COMPARISON WITH RADIOMETRIC AND SOLID-CULTURE SYSTEMS

Recovery rates of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) and the mean time to their d etection from clinical specimens were determined by using the fluoresc ent BACTEC 9000 MB system, Data were compared to those assessed by the radiometric BACTEC 460 system and by cultivation on solid media, A to tal of 3,095 specimens were processed with N-acetyl-L-cysteine-NaOH by two laboratories, The contamination rates for the BACTEC 9000 MB syst em were 6.8% (center 1) and 9.8% (center 2), A total of 451 mycobacter ial isolates were detected (Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, n = 29 6; nontuberculous mycobacteria [NTM], II = 155), These isolates origin ated from 94 (20.8%) smear-positive and 357 (79.2%) smear-negative spe cimens, The BACTEC 9000 MB system was significantly better than solid media (P < 0.05) in detecting AFB, but it was less efficient than the radiometric system (P < 0.01), The BACTEC 9000 MB system plus solid me dia (combination A) recovered 393 (87.1%) of the isolates, while the B ACTEC 460 system plus solid media (combination B) detected 430 (95.3%) of all AFB isolates, Between combination A and B there was no statist ically significant difference for the detection of isolates from smear -positive specimens (P > 0.05), in contrast to the recovery of AFB fro m smear-negative specimens for M, tuberculosis complex, P < 0.05; for NTM, P < 0.01), The mean time to detection of M. tuberculosis complex was 12.2 days for smear-positive specimens and 18.1 days for smear-neg ative specimens with the BACTEC 9000 MB system; 9.3 and 15.6 days, res pectively, with the BACTEC 460 system;and 21.2 and 28.4 days, respecti vely, with solid media, For NTM, the average detection times were 15.1 , 17.3, and 31.3 days by the three methods, respectively, In conclusio n, the BACTEC 9000 MB system is a rapid, less labor-intensive detectio n system which allows for higher levels of recovery of AFB than solid media, There is no risk of cross contamination, which is known to be t he case for the BACTEC 460 system, and data management is greatly faci litated, As a whole, however, the BACTEC 9000 MB system should only be used in conjunction with solid media.