Recent Advances in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Tuberculosis is an important health problem requiring early diagnosis for timely initiation of therapy and control of disease transmission. Though, conventional techniques, such as detection of acid fast bacilli by Ziehl-Neelsen staining, are very economical, yet have a low sensitivity. Isolation of mycobacteria by culture on Lowenstein Jensen media, considered to be the gold standard, is not only time consuming but has a low sensitivity, especially in extrapulmonary tuberculosis. Recent advances in molecular techniques have revolutionized the diagnostic microbiology. Various new modalities in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, like LED microscopy, microscopically observed drug susceptibility testing (MODS), antigen detection tests along with various molecular methods, like loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP), multiplex PCR and Xpert MTB/RIF, are discussed in the present review. How to cite this article Sharma K, Appannanavar SB, Goyal K, Sharma A. Recent Advances in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis. J Postgrad Med Edu Res 2013;47(4):181-187.