Abstract
Nucleic acid amplification technologies offer great promise for the rapid, sensitive and specific diagnosis of tuberculosis. However, the isolation of inhibitor-free DNA from biological specimens is a bottleneck of the PCR assay. Here we describe a simple method for the isolation of PCR-amplifiable DNA of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from all types of samples of pulmonary and extrapulmonary origin tested. Briefly, it involves concentration of the bacilli by high-speed centrifugation, removal of PCR inhibitors by a wash solution containing guanidinium isothiocyanate and the release of bacterial DNA by heating in the presence of detergents and Chelex-100 resin. The entire process is accomplished within ∼3 h. The method has been validated on 780 samples of human, bovine and guinea pig origin including sputum, cerebrospinal fluid, pulmonary fluids, pus, fine needle aspirate, tissue, blood and milk.
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