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PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com / submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
Tuberculosis (TB) remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide that is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Conventional cultures are highly sensitive but time-consuming, whereas Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) stain is a rapid method with high specificity but has lower sensitivity. The GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay represents a great breakthrough in rapid diagnosis of TB which is not only important in treatment but also has a vital role to prevent its transmission in the community. The aim of this study is to throw a light on the importance of GeneXpert assay as a rapid and reliable test for the diagnosis of TB compared to conventional MGIT960 culture and ZN microscopy. A total of 380 sputum samples and 55 extrapulmonary samples (37 pleural fluids, 11 CSF, 3 peritoneal fluids, 2 pus and 2 synovial fluids) were taken from 435 patients clinically suspected to have TB. GeneXpert, MGIT960 liquid culture and ZN stain were done for all samples. Out of 435 cases, 41 cases (9.4%) were positive for TB by bacteriological, clinical, radiological and/or pathological evidence. From 41 positive TB cases 40, 35, and 30 cases were positive by GeneXpert assay, MGIT960 and ZN stain respectively. The overall sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV) and positive predictive value (PPV) of GeneXpert were 97.6%, 100 %, 99.7 %and 100% respectively. On the other hand, the sensitivity, specificity, NPV and PPV of MGIT960 culture were 85.4%, 99.4%, 98.5% and 94.6%,while for ZN stain were 73.2%, 99.4%, 99.5% and 93.8% respectively. GeneXpert is a simple, rapid, highly sensitive (97.6 %) and specific (100%) method that greatly speeds up the detection of MTB compared to conventional MGIT960 culture and ZN stain.