Rapid Molecular Detection of Tuberculosis

To the Editor: Boehme et al. (Sept. 9 issue) 1 report encouraging results on the use of an automated molecular test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to rifampin (Xpert MTB/RIF). However, the population of patients with clinical tuberculosis who have negative cultures still poses a probl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe New England journal of medicine Vol. 364; no. 2; pp. 182 - 185
Main Author Mohapatra, Prasanta Raghab
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Massachusetts Medical Society 13.01.2011
Subjects
Bacterial Proteins - genetics
Colleges & universities
DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
Drug Resistance, Bacterial - genetics
Humans
Medical research
Mutation
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - drug effects
Mycobacterium tuberculosis - genetics
Polymerase Chain Reaction - methods
Rifampin - pharmacology
Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant - diagnosis
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:To the Editor: Boehme et al. (Sept. 9 issue) 1 report encouraging results on the use of an automated molecular test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and resistance to rifampin (Xpert MTB/RIF). However, the population of patients with clinical tuberculosis who have negative cultures still poses a problem of interpretation, which was not discussed in the article. Among study patients whose samples were culture-negative but who had symptoms of tuberculosis, 29.3% had positive results on the automated test; these patients made up 4.3% of the total number of automated test–positive patients. In such patients, tuberculosis that was detected by the automated test may . . .
Bibliography:SourceType-Other Sources-1
content type line 63
ObjectType-Correspondence-1
ObjectType-Commentary-2
ISSN:0028-4793
1533-4406
DOI:10.1056/NEJMc1011919