Amplification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from peripheral blood.
To determine the value of the PCR assay of lymphomonocytic blood cells for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, we compared, in a prospective study, PCR results with results of conventional diagnostic methods of Mycobacterium tuberculosis detection. Clinical investigators who were unaware of the PCR data classified 162 immunocompetent patients, who had been hospitalized because of suspected pulmonary tuberculosis, in accordance with the recommendations of the American Thoracic Society (ATS). By testing blood samples from these patients for mycobacterial DNA with three different PCR systems, we were able to demonstrate that nonquantitative PCR of peripheral blood leukocytes is of little value for the specific diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. However, semiquantitative PCR assays might have some significance since we found an increasing level of mycobacterial DNA copies in blood from patients classified in ATS groups 2 to 5.
Rolfs
A
A
Department of Neurology, University of Rostock, Germany.
Beige
J
J
Finckh
U
U
Köhler
B
B
Schaberg
T
T
Lokies
J
J
Lode
H
H
D001483:Base Sequence; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000235:genetics; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000235:genetics; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D021141:Nucleic Acid Amplification Techniques; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology
D015342:DNA Probes; D004269:DNA, Bacterial