title: Evaluation of a commercial radiometric system for primary isolation of mycobacteria over a fifteen-year period.
abstract: The rate of recovery and time to detection of mycobacteria from clinical specimens were analysed for specimens inoculated into both radiometric Middlebrook 7H12 (Bactec 12B, originally 12A) medium and Lowenstein-Jensen egg-based medium (with and without sodium pyruvate) over the 15-year period from 1980 to 1994. A total of 19,679 Bactec vials were inoculated together with Lowenstein-Jensen slopes, with 2198 mycobacterial isolates detected. The mean times to detection for Bactec and Lowenstein-Jensen were 11.7 days and 23.9 days, respectively. In 195 cases mycobacteria were isolated from Bactec and not from Lowenstein-Jensen, whereas the reverse was true in 42 cases. The number of contaminated Bactec vials was 488 and the number of contaminated Lowenstein-Jensen slopes 448.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Royal Brompton Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Middleton
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Chadwick
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gaya
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D003470:Culture Media / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D009161:Mycobacterium / Q000254:growth & development*; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media