[A study on the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and silicotuberculosis by PCR]

The sputa of 156 patients with lung disease were detected by smear, culture and PCR for mycobacterium tuberculosis. The detectable limitation was 10 fg DNA and 5 organisms. Both sensitivity and specificity of detection by PCR were much better than smear or culture techniques. Our results demonstrated that PCR technique is one of the useful tools in early and rapid diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis and silicotuberculosis.