Improved performance of gen-probe amplified mycobacterium tuberculosis direct test when 500 instead of 50 microliters of decontaminated sediment is used

Abstract

Using 500 μl of sediment each for screening of 717 respiratory tract specimens by Gen-Probe's Amplified Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Direct Test improved the sensitivity (83.3%) of the assay, compared with our previous study using 50 μl of sediment (71.4%), without adversely affecting its specificity (99.4 and 99.0%, respectively).