Gen X-Pert MTB/Rif Assay with the Ziehl Nielsen, and Florescence Microscopy Detection Rate of Urinary Tuberculosis Among Suspected and Pulmonary MTB Positive Patients Visiting University of Gondar Specialized Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia.
Abstract Background Tuberculosis is a bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains a major global public health concern. Extra-pulmonary tuberculosis accounts for 15% of the global tuberculosis burden. Urinary tract tuberculosis is one of the most common and severe forms of extra-pulmonary tuberculosis in clinical practice. Diagnosis of urinary tract tuberculosis by Gen X-pert MTB/RIF assay from developing countries including Ethiopia is limited. Thus, this study was aimed to compare Gene X-pert MTB/RIF assay with the convectional diagnosis methods. Methods A hospital-based cross-sectional study was conducted among confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis and suspected for urinary tract tuberculosis patients at University of Gondar Specialized Referral Hospital from February 2020 to June 2020 G.C. Non-randomized purposive sampling technique was used to select study participants. To detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a urine sample was collected. Then, Ziehl Nielsen and fluorescence microscope, Gene X-pert Real-time PCR were performed to detect the Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Sociodemographic, clinical data, and laboratory data were collected and entered into EPI-Info version 3.5.3 and then transferred to SPSS version-20 for analysis. Descriptive statistics were summarized as percentages, means, and standard deviations. Results A total of 64 study participants were enrolled in this study, 64.2% (41/64) were males and 30% (19/64) were in the age group of 31–45 years. Moreover, 71.9% (46/64) and 57.8% (37/64) study participants were rural residences and illiterate respectively. Among the 64 study participants, 4.69% (3/64) were positive for urinary tuberculosis by Gene X-expert. However, 1.56% (1/64) was positive by fluorescence microscopy, and there was no urinary tuberculosis detected by Ziehl Nielsen examination method. Conclusion and recommendation: The prevalence of urinary tract Mycobacterium tuberculosis using Gene X-pert and fluorescence microscopy was 4.69% (3/64) and 1.56% (1/64), respectively. Gene X-pert has higher detection rate than the conventional methods. Therefore, it is better to develop a guideline on how to use Gen x-pert for the diagnosis for urinary tract tuberculosis in urine samples.