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Updated: Feb 14, 2026

A Tuberculosis Molecular Bacterial Load Assay TB-MBLA
Published on: April 30, 2020
Performance of the TB-LAMP diagnostic assay in reference laboratories: Results from a multicentre study
Thu Hang Pham1, Jonathan Peter2, Fernanda C Q Mello3
1Pham Ngoc Thach Tuberculosis and Lung Disease Hospital, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
Objective:
To evaluate the diagnostic performance of TB-LAMP, a manual molecular tuberculosis (TB) detection method, and provide comparison to the Xpert MTB/RIF assay.
Methods:
In a large multicentre study, two sputum samples were collected from participants with TB symptoms in reference laboratories in Peru, South Africa, Brazil, and Vietnam. Each sample was tested with TB-LAMP. The reference standard consisted of four direct smears, four cultures, and clinical and radiological findings. Individuals negative on conventional tests were followed up after 8 weeks. The Xpert MTB/RIF assay was performed on fresh or frozen samples as a molecular test comparison.
Results:
A total of 1036 adults with suspected TB were enrolled. Among 375 culture-confirmed TB cases with 750 sputum samples, TB-LAMP detected 75.6% (95% confidence interval (CI) 71.8-79.4%), including 97.9% (95% CI 96.4-99.4%) of smear-positive TB samples and 46.6% (95% CI 40.6-52.7%) of smear-negative TB samples. Specificity in 477 culture-negative participants not treated for TB (954 sputum samples) was 98.7% (95% CI 97.9-99.6%). TB-LAMP test results were indeterminate in 0.3% of cases.
Conclusions:
TB-LAMP detects nearly all smear-positive and half of smear-negative TB cases and has a high specificity when performed in reference laboratories. Performance was similar to the Xpert MTB/RIF assay.
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