Quantitative drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by use of MGIT 960 and EpiCenter
Burkhard Springer1, Katja Lucke, Romana Calligaris-Maibach
1Institut für Medizinische Mikrobiologie, Universität Zürich, Gloriastrasse 30/32, CH-8006 Zürich, Switzerland.
Abstract:
Since numbers of drug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains are on the rise, the simple classification into "susceptible" and "resistant" strains based on susceptibility testing at "critical concentrations" has to be reconsidered. While future studies have to address the correlation of phenotypic resistance levels and treatment outcomes, a prerequisite for corresponding investigations is the ability to exactly determine levels of quantitative drug resistance in clinical M. tuberculosis isolates. Here we have established the conditions for quantitative drug susceptibility testing for first- and second-line agents using MGIT 960 instrumentation and EpiCenter software equipped with the TB eXiST module. In-depth comparative analysis of a range of well-characterized susceptible and resistant clinical isolates has allowed us to propose conditions for testing and to develop criteria for interpretation.
Related Concept Videos
Pulmonary Tuberculosis IV
Several diagnostic approaches are used to detect TB. The conventional method is the Tuberculin Skin Test (TST), also known as the Mantoux test. However, this method has...
Automated Microbial Diagnostics

