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Updated: Jun 3, 2026

Diagnosing Pulmonary Tuberculosis with the Xpert MTB/RIF Test
Published on: April 9, 2012
Rapid and efficient detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in respiratory and non-respiratory samples
B Malbruny1, G Le Marrec, K Courageux
1Service de Microbiologie, Centre Hospitalière Universitaire Côte de Nacre, Caen, France.
Abstract:
The detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis using a new commercial real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay (Xpert™ MTB/RIF) was evaluated on 91 respiratory and 89 non-respiratory samples recovered from 132 patients suspected of tuberculosis (TB). Overall, 31 (17.2%) of the 180 samples, including 17 respiratory and 14 non-respiratory (respectively 17 and 12 PCR-positive), yielded M. tuberculosis on culture. The sensitivity and specificity of PCR were respectively 100% and 100%, and 85.7% and 97.3% for respiratory and non-respiratory samples. Although the test is validated only for respiratory samples, our findings suggest that it could be useful for the diagnosis of extra-pulmonary TB.
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