Emerging trends in the diagnosis of tuberculosis--RNTCP and beyond.
Though the Koch's bacillus was discovered 128 years ago, still there lies some dilemma in its diagnosis in certain clinical situations. Here in this article two basic approaches have been described for its diagnosis. One is the 'direct' approach in which detection of mycobacteria or its products is done, the other being 'indirect' approach, which includes measurements of humoral and cellular responses of the host against tuberculosis. 'Direct' methods include sputum smear microscopy, culture and molecular amplification methods. The 'indirect' methods include antibody detection, antigen defection, cellular immunity mediated tests and biochemical assays. All the methods have been narrated in a nutshell in this article.
Subhakar
S
Kandi
G
G
Madhavi
D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000639:trends*; D024881:Drug Resistance, Bacterial; D006801:Humans; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000382:microbiology