Tuberculosis: Diagnostics

While microscopy and culture are still the major backbone for laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB), new methods including molecular diagnostic tests have evolved over the last two decades. The majority of molecular tests have been focused on: (i) detection of nucleic acids both DNA and RNA, which are specific to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, by amplification techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR); and (ii) detection of mutations in the genes which are associated with resistance to anti-tuberculosis drugs by sequencing or nucleic acid hybridization. In the session of the conference on diagnosis of TB, there were two presentations: one on the development of new diagnostic tools for drug resistant M. tuberculosis, and the other on issues involved in the application of new diagnostic tools for multidrug resistant (MDR)-TB, pediatric TB and HIV-TB.