title: Auditing smear microscopy results according to time to detection using the BACTEC™ MGIT™ TB system.
abstract: Smear microscopy is a rapid method for the identification of the most infectious patients with mycobacterial infection. Suboptimal smear microscopy may significantly compromise or delay patient isolation and contact tracing. A stringent method for auditing mycobacterial smear results is thus needed. This article proposes an auditing tool based on time to detection (TTD) of culture-positive samples using the automated BACTEC™ MGIT™ 960 TB system. In our study, sputum samples subjected to liquefaction and concentration before staining with a TTD of ≤ 13 days using the BACTEC system should be positive on smear microscopy.
authors.affiliation: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Department of Medical Microbiology, Barnet Hospital, Wellhouse Lane, Barnet, UK.
authors.forename: A A F
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Elsaghier
mesh_terms: D001431:Bacteriological Techniques / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008853:Microscopy / Q000592:standards*; D009169:Mycobacterium tuberculosis / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013183:Sputum / Q000382:microbiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis*