A PCR-reverse cross-blot hybridization assay procedure that is able to rapidly identify 13 species of clinically relevant mycobacteria was evaluated for routine use in the identification of acid-fast isolates growing in BACTEC 460 TB (12B and 13A) and BACTEC 9000 MB (Myco/F) liquid media. Eight of the probes used were already described by Kox et al. (L. F. F. Kox et al., J. Clin. Microbiol. 33:...

Determination of the drug susceptibility of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by conventional methods using an agar-based medium may take 3 weeks or more to complete. On the other hand, results on positive cultures are generally available in 4 to 7 days with the radiometric (BACTEC, Johnston Laboratories, Towson, Md.) procedure. One disadvantage to the latter is the requirement to determine the quanti...

In a previous study which evaluated the BACTEC 9240 automated blood culture system (Becton Dickinson Diagnostic Instrument Systems, Sparks, Md.), we noted a 1.3% "instrument false-positive" rate. That is, the BACTEC system signaled that a bottle (BACTEC Plus Aerobic/F bottle or BACTEC Anaerobic Lytic/10 bottle) culture was positive but a Gram stain was negative and there was no growth of bacter...

A total of 140 mycobacterial isolates from patients treated at Fitzsimons Army Medical Center or the National Jewish Hospital and Research Center and from animal specimens submitted to the National Veterinary Services Laboratory were tested by using a urease procedure modified for use with a BACTEC model 301. Mycobacterial suspensions were prepared by using Middlebrook 7H10 Tween broth. Of the ...

Blood culture bottles that accept up to 10 ml of blood have recently been introduced for the BACTEC nonradiometric blood culture system. The new formulation, designated BACTEC Plus, contains 25 ml of tryptic soy broth, 0.05% sodium polyanetholesulfonate, and mixed resins. In a collaborative study conducted at three university hospitals, we evaluated the BACTEC Plus 26 (BP26) aerobic bottle and ...

Propionibacterium acnes is a gram-positive anaerobic bacillus and a normal inhabitant of the skin. Although it is often considered a contaminant of blood cultures, it can occasionally cause serious infections, including postoperative central nervous system infections. Here, we report the case of a 70-yr-old man who developed a large cerebral abscess caused by P. acnes 13 months after neurosurge...

Background: Pyrazinamide (PZA) is one of the most important drugs for tuberculosis (TB) treatment, however, its susceptibility is not routinely tested. High-resolution melting (HRM) curve analysis has been widely used for many applications. In this study, HRM assay was developed and evaluated for the detection of PZA resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis clinical isolates. Methods: Ninety fi...

PURPOSE To evaluate the performance of 65 kDa antigen based PCR assay in clinical samples obtained from pulmonary and extrapulmonary cases of tuberculosis. METHODS One hundred and fifty six samples were processed for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by ZN smear examination, LJ medium culture, BACTEC radiometric culture and PCR tests. RESULTS A significant difference was seen in the s...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to develop and assess a rapid method for pyrazinamide resistance detection in Mycobacterium tuberculosis using nicotinamide in a colorimetric resazurin assay. METHODS We have tested M. tuberculosis isolates using nicotinamide in a 96-well format with the redox indicator resazurin (REMA) and compared results using the BACTEC 460-TB system with two conce...