Rapid Identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in BACTEC MGIT960 Cultures by In-House Loop-Medicated Isothermal Amplification

Definitive diagnosis of tuberculosis (TB) by conventional culture, followed by bacterial identification based on biochemical tests is time-consuming and tedious. Simple loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) specific for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, targeting the M. tuberculosis 16S ribosomal RNA gene, termed TB-LAMP, was evaluated as an alternative for rapid culture confirmation. TB-LAMP was assessed for its ability to detect M. tuberculosis complex in BACTEC MGIT 960-positive cultures. Of the 103 cultures evaluated, 100 were identified to contain M. tuberculosis complex by TB-LAMP and had concordant results with standard biochemical tests of niacin accumulation, nitrate reductase, lack of heat-stable catalase, and susceptibility to para-nitrobenzoic acid. These results indicate that TB-LAMP in combination with BACTEC MGIT 960 is a specific, reliable, and technically feasible method for rapid and accurate identification of M. tuberculosis complex.