Abstract

Real time PCR is a widely used for molecular diagnosis of tuberculosis in routine diagnosis laboratory. There are many commercially avaliable system. The sensitivity of the system varies according to DNA extraction from the sample and target specific primers and probes and commercial systems. In this study, the sensitivity and specificity of AdvanSure TB/NTM real time PCR kit were evaluated for detecting mycobacteria in smear positive and negative sputum specimens of 35 active pulmonary tuberculosis patients. All specimens were corrected using EZN staining, solid (Löwenstein Jensen) and liquid culture (MGIT). Culture and clinical findings were used as gold standards in the evaluation of all PCR results. Overall true positivity was found 25 ( 71.42%). When smear negative samples were evaluated together with culture results, only 3 patients were found positive by PCR test in 10 samples (30%).

Keywords: Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Non-tuberculous mycobacterium; AdvanSure TB/NTM; realtime PCR