ABSTRACT
Tuberculous lymphadenopathy is often diagnosed and treated on clinical and cytopathological grounds as Mycobacterium tuberculosis remains undetected in tissue specimens from such patients. At times, lymph nodes are known to respond sluggishly to and reappear during antitubercular therapy. We report a polymerase chain reaction-based approach to confirm the presence of M. tuberculosis in 4 such patients.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Child , DNA, Bacterial/analysis , Female , Humans , Male , Mycobacterium tuberculosis/isolation & purification , Polymerase Chain Reaction , Tuberculosis, Lymph Node/microbiologyABSTRACT
The availability of the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has provided us with unprecedented opportunities for understanding the biology of this highly successful pathogen and its unique interaction with the host. It is hoped that the impetus so provided to mycobacterial research will accelerate the development of effective and novel strategies for the treatment, prevention and detection of tuberculosis.