Pilot evaluation of commercial liquid culture method for isolation of mycobacteria in resource-poor settings.

digestion and decontamination was done by the NaOH (Sodium Hydroxide) -NALC (N-acetyl-L-cysteine) method, followed by centrifugation for 20 minutes at 3000 revolutions/minute. 0.5 ml of each concentrate was added into the 3 media. MGIT vials were monitored by the MGIT 960 system while the Bio FM and LJ media were examined upto 42 days and 56 days respectively for mycobacterial growth. Isolates were identiÞ ed by P-nitro-aacetylaminob-hydroxypropiophenone (NAP) testing. 17 of the 20 specimens turned culture positive while three smear negative specimens remained culture negative. All isolates were identiÞ ed as M. tuberculosis complex. Surprisingly, no discrepancy was seen in the recovery rates of the 3 media. The time to mycobacterial detection was shortest with MGIT and longest with LJ media [Table 1]. The detection time of BioFM was comparable with MGIT and outperformed the LJ media, similar to other international study Þ ndings.[4,5]