Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis - Microscopy to Molecular Techniques at the Tertiary Care Hospital in Telangana

Tuberculosis kills more than 1 million people every year, most of them in low-income and middle-income countries. An understanding of the trends in tuberculosis incidence, prevalence, and mortality s crucial to track the success of tuberculosis control programs. Microbiological diagnosis of diseases caused by Mycobacteria should be fast and effective to prevent contagions and optimize the management of infections.

A total of 1412 clinical pulmonary and extra pulmonary specimens were studied from January 2017 to December 2017 at Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad. All specimens were processed according to standard operating procedures. All the specimens were subjected to microscopy, culture, GeneXpert.

Among 1412 samples received 813 were males (57.6%) and 599 females (42.4%). Among these 818 (57.9%) were pulmonary samples and 594 extra pulmonary samples. Mycobacterium prevalence was (21.6%) out of which Mycobacterium tuberculosis was found in 18.3% and Non tuberculous Mycobacteria (3.25%). The contamination rate was 2.6% (37 out of 1412). Among the positives, the most common affected age group was 21-30 yrs (22.2%). About 64 (4.53%) were smear positive. A total of 200 isolates (14.16%) were recovered by at least one culture LJ medium or BacT Alert 3D system. MTB was recovered in 216 (15.29%) by GeneXpert. MDRTB was detected in 8 (3.7%) by GeneXpert.

M. tuberculosis complex is responsible for immense worldwide morbidity and mortality. Delays in diagnosis may postpone administration of appropriate treatment and be detrimental to patient outcomes. Since traditional culture methods are slow, newer molecular techniques allow more rapid and sensitive laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis.