title: Nitrate reductase assay for detection of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: simple and inexpensive method for low-resource laboratories.
abstract: The nitrate reductase assay (NRA) was used as an alternative method for detection of resistance to the first-line antituberculous drugs isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol and streptomycin. A total of 320 strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were studied and the results compared with the proportion method (PM) on Löwenstein-Jensen medium. The mean time to obtain results was 10 days and the overall agreement between the NRA and PM was 98.8 %. The NRA was easy to perform and represents a useful tool for rapid and accurate determination of drug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains in low-resource countries.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Tropical 'Pedro Kouri', Autopista Novia del Mediodía Km 61/2, Apartado Postal 601, La Lisa, La Habana, Cuba.
authors.forename: Dihadenys
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lemus
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Tropical 'Pedro Kouri', Autopista Novia del Mediodía Km 61/2, Apartado Postal 601, La Lisa, La Habana, Cuba.
authors.forename: Ernesto
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Montoro
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Medicina Tropical 'Pedro Kouri', Autopista Novia del Mediodía Km 61/2, Apartado Postal 601, La Lisa, La Habana, Cuba.
authors.forename: Miguel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Echemendía
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Anandi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Françoise
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Portaels
authors.affiliation: Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Palomino
mesh_terms: D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D050901:Nitrate Reductase / Q000378:metabolism*; D009573:Nitrites / Q000032:analysis; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D009573:Nitrites; D050901:Nitrate Reductase