DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2019.v07i02.014

Pages: 492-496

Background: An alarming rise in the global incidence of infections caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) has prompted the need for rapid diagnostic techniques. Objective: To evaluate the positivity rate of the Xpert MTB/ RIF assay for the detection of M. tuberculosis in pulmonary as well as extra pulmonary specimens. Methods: During a period of 12 months from January 2017 through December 2017, 3987 clinically TB suspects were enrolled for Xpert MTB\RIF assay in Indira Gandhi Medical College, shimla. The cohort comprised of 1590 suspects of pulmonary TB and 2397 of extra-pulmonary TB (EPTB). The 1590 pulmonary samples include 1150 sputum sample and 440 bronchial-alveolar lavage. The 2397 EPTB samples included pus aspirated from different sites of the body , pleural fluid , ascetic fluid ,peritoneal fluid, synovial fluid aspirate, Peri-nephrotic fluid, gastric lavage, lymph node (LN) aspirate, pericardial fluid, CSF, semen ,endometrial biopsy etc. Xpert MTB/RIF assay was performed on all samples from these patients. Results: M. tuberculosis (MTB) were detected by Xpert MTB/RIF test in 537(13.47%) out of 3987 samples. 358 out of 1590 pulmonary samples (22.52%) while 179 out of 2397 extra pulmonary samples (7.47%) were positive for MTB by Gene Xpert. Among PTB cases the highest yield of positivity was shown in BAL samples while among EPTB it was for LN Aspirates. Rifampicin resistance was detected in 24 (4.47%) patients. Among these 18 (5.03%) were pulmonary TB Patients and 6(3.35%) were EPTB patients. Conclusion: Xpert MTB/RIF is a sensitive method for rapid diagnosis of Tuberculosis, especially for PTB case. For countries endemic for TB GeneXpert can serve as a time saving diagnostic modality for detection of M. tuberculosis.