Advances in bacteriological diagnosis

Abstract

Microbiological diagnosis of urogenital tuberculosis, traditionally based on the results from bacterioscopy and cultures, may sometimes be insufficient apart from requiring a particularly long time (4–8 weeks). In an attempt to reduce the times of response and to improve sensitivity, new methods have been put forward using DNA probes in culture media (fast methods) and nucleic acid amplification systems (ultra-fast methods). The authors describe the various methods and report their experience using the fast (AccuProbe) and the ultra-fast methods (MTBDA). They still consider the culture examination as the gold standard, but times of response may be reduced (10–15 days) using the AccuProbe test. The ultra-fast methods MTBDA may be put to good use when there is a clinical and/or radiological suspicion of tuberculosis with a negative culture or in cases where a rapid differential diagnosis is necessary.