Multicenter evaluation of the nitrate reductase assay for drug resistance detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

• Published in: Journal of microbiological methods Vol. 63; no. 2; pp. 145 - 150
• Main Authors: Martin, Anandi, Montoro, Ernesto, Lemus, Dihadenys, Simboli, Norberto, Morcillo, Nora, Velasco, Maritza, Chauca, José, Barrera, Lucía, Ritacco, Viviana, Portaels, Françoise, Palomino, Juan Carlos
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 01.11.2005; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Antitubercular Agents - pharmacology; Bacterial diseases; Bacteriological methods and techniques used in bacteriology; Bacteriology; Biological and medical sciences; Drug Resistance, Bacterial; First line drugs; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Human bacterial diseases; Humans; Infectious diseases; Medical sciences; Microbial Sensitivity Tests; Microbiology; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - drug effects; Mycobacterium tuberculosis - enzymology; Nitrate Reductase - metabolism; Nitrate reductase assay; Reproducibility of Results; Sensitivity and Specificity; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - microbiology; Tuberculosis and atypical mycobacterial infections; Nitrate reductase assay; First line drugs; Tuberculosis; Evaluation; Enzyme; Mycobacterial infection; Infection; Resistance; Antibiotic; Mycobacterium tuberculosis; Mycobacteriales; Nitrate reductase; Bacteriosis; Mycobacteriaceae; Bacteria; Actinomycetes; Oxidoreductases; Detection; Comparative study
• ISSN: 0167-7012; 1872-8359
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mimet.2005.03.004

The performance of the nitrate reductase assay was evaluated in a multicenter laboratory study to detect resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to the first-line anti-tuberculosis drugs rifampicin, isoniazid, ethambutol and streptomycin using a set of coded isolates. Compared with the gold standard proportion method on Löwenstein-Jensen medium, the assay was highly accurate in detecting resistance to rifampicin, isoniazid and ethambutol with an accuracy of 98%, 96.6% and 97.9%, respectively. For streptomycin, discrepant results were obtained with an overall accuracy of 85.3%. The assay proved easy to be implemented in countries with limited laboratory facilities.