Journal of clinical microbiology
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J. Clin. Microbiol. · Aug 1998
Clinical evaluation of the Gen-Probe Amplified Direct Test for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms in cerebrospinal fluid.
Eighty-four cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from different children who presented with signs and symptoms of meningitis were evaluated for the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex organisms by the Gen-Probe Amplified Mycobacterium tuberculosis Direct Test (MTD; Gen-Probe, San Diego, Calif.). All CSF samples had negative acid-fast smears by the Ziehl-Neelsen staining method. M. tuberculosis was recovered from five samples. ⋯ The Gen-Probe MTD was 33% sensitive and 100% specific for detecting M. tuberculosis complex organisms in these 84 CSF samples. If the cutoff values for positive results were decreased for the MTD (> or = 11,000 versus > or = 30,000 relative light units), the sensitivity increased to 83% and the specificity remained 100%. These results for the MTD are encouraging considering that TBM is a highly fatal disease and difficult to diagnose by conventional laboratory techniques.