Evaluation of nitrate reductase assay for direct detection of drug resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis: rapid and inexpensive method for low-resource settings.
The aim of this study was to evaluate a nitrate reductase assay (NRA) for the direct detection of multidrug resistance (MDR) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis from 100 smear-positive sputum samples. The NRA results were compared with the reference proportion method for 100 sputum specimens for which comparable results were available. NRA results were obtained at day 7 for 61 specimens, results for 26 specimens were obtained at day 10, and the results for 13 specimens were obtained at day 14. Thus, 87% of NRA results were obtained in 10 days. NRA is a rapid, accurate, and cost-effective method for the detection of MDR in M. tuberculosis isolates as compared to the proportion method, which is time consuming. Therefore, NRA constitutes a useful tool for detection of tuberculosis drug resistance in low-resource countries with limited laboratory facilities due to its low-cost, ease of performance and lack of requirement of sophisticated equipment.
Gupta
M
M
Department of Microbiology, UCMS & GTB Hospital, Delhi, India. raizada_monika@yahoo.co.in
Singh
N P
NP
Kaur
I R
IR
D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003124:Colorimetry / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods; D003470:Culture Media; D006801:Humans; D008826:Microbial Sensitivity Tests / Q000191:economics / Q000379:methods*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000201:enzymology; D050901:Nitrate Reductase / Q000378:metabolism*; D009566:Nitrates / Q000378:metabolism; D011203:Poverty; D013997:Time Factors; D018088:Tuberculosis, Multidrug-Resistant / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology
D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D003470:Culture Media; D009566:Nitrates; D050901:Nitrate Reductase