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The diagnostic yield of acid-fast-bacillus smear-positive sputum specimens
B L Stone1, W J Burman, M V Hildred
1Department of Public Health, Denver Health, Colorado, USA.
Journal of Clinical Microbiology
|April 1, 1997
Abstract:
The yield of mycobacterial culture from acid-fast-bacillus smear-positive sputum specimens was 387 or 439 (88.2%). Forty-nine of 52 culture-negative specimens came from patients on treatment. We conclude that the yield of culture from smear-positive sputum specimens is very high and that only two acid-fast-bacillus smear-positive specimens are needed for the initial evaluation of pulmonary mycobacteriosis.