[Cases with Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from non-sputum or broncho alveolar lavage fluid materials]

Out of 79 cases of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from clinical specimens at the Iizuka Hospital from 1996 to 1999, 24 cases were isolated from materials other than from the sputa and broncho alveolar lavage fluid (BALF). For these 24 cases we investigated the clinical features and detection methods. Number of cases among each material was 8, 4, 3, 3, 3, 1, 1, 1 in pleural effusion, biopsied lymph node, pus, cerebrospinal fluid, urine, joint effusion, ascites, endometrium, respectively. By smear method, 5 cases of the 24 (20.8%) were positive, and the most frequent specimen positive for smear method was lymph node (3/4 cases), but other specimens reveal a low positive rate. It takes 4 to 8 weeks for determination by culture method, and the number of colonies was few. Only two out of the examined 9 cases, in this study, showed positive results in rapid diagnosis using PCR.