[An improved method of obtaining smears for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on environmental objects]

To improve the isolation rate of M. tuberculosis and reduce the contaminating microflora growth, the authors have modified the technique of obtaining washings off the environmental objects by wetting the tampons with trisubstituted sodium phosphate instead of physiologic saline. This resulted in an increase of M. tuberculosis isolation rate by 1.3-1.5 times and a decrease of the contaminating microflora growth by 2-2.5 times.