Introduction:
Tuberculosis (TB) is a one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity
worldwide. Bactec MGIT (Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube) system is a rapid, reliable automated
system for early diagnosis of pulmonary and extra pulmonary TB in setups where purchase
of expensive instruments is not possible. The present study was thus carried out to evaluate AFB
microscopy, culture on Lowenstein Jensen media and micro MGIT system for early and accurate
diagnosis of Tuberculosis.
Methods:
A total of 280 samples were processed for direct AFB smear examination, and culture
on micro MGIT and LJ media. The identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in positive
cultures was done by MPT64 Ag card test (BD MGIT TBC Identification Test).
Results:
Out of the processed samples, (47.1%) 132/280 were positive for Mycobacterium spp by
Micro MGIT, (35%) 98/280 on LJ medium and (25.7%) 72/280 by AFB smear. A total of (48.5%)
136 samples were positive by a combination of Micro MGIT and LJ medium. Among the total
positive samples (136/280), Micro MGIT was found to be positive in 97% (132/136) of samples,
LJ was positive in 72% (98/136), while 52.9% (72/136) were positive by AFB smear.
Conclusion:
Manual MGIT System is a simple and efficient, safe to use the diagnostic system. It
does not require any expensive/special instrumentation other than the UV lamp for the detection
of fluorescence. In areas with limited resources where the purchase of expensive instruments such
as the MGIT 960 is out of scope, the use of manual MGIT for rapid susceptibility testing for
MDR-TB could be an option. We would recommend testing MGIT 960 using first and secondline
drugs to determine DST.