Abstract
Brazil is one of the high burden countries for
tuberculosis , and a rapid
diagnosis is essential for effective control of the
disease . In the present study, an in-house
real-time polymerase chain reaction (
PCR ) assay targeting the mpt64
gene for identification of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates was evaluated under routine
diagnosis conditions in a reference
laboratory . From May 2011 to July 2012, 1,520 isolates of
mycobacteria were prospectively submitted for phenotypic and/or PRA-hsp65 identification and to
real-time PCR . The mpt64
real-time PCR showed 99.7%
sensitivity and 96%
specificity and detected 79.4% of the cases missed by phenotypic and PRA-hsp65 identification. The in-house
real-time PCR assay showed high
sensitivity and specificity and was successfully implemented in the routine
diagnosis of
tuberculosis in a reference
laboratory from a high burden setting.