A comparative microscopic & cultural tuberculosis diagnostic study in rural Chennai

Background: Care of patients with tuberculosis starts with a quality assured medical treatment. This has several facets like clinical, radiological & laboratory techniques. The laboratory techniques need to be reliable, rapid, cost effective & reproducible not only for the patients but also for the clinicians, as it will lay down the base for early initiation of suitable treatment & reduce the mortality & morbidity of the diseased person. Objective: To ensure reliable, early detection and cost effective diagnostic technique by comparing two microscopic and cultures. Design: Case control study, with comparative microscopy & cultural techniques. Methodology: 75 willing Patients with their consent were selected from the Departments of Medicine &TBCD.25 HCW were taken as controls. The sputum collected were processed for two different staining, microscopic & culture techniques. These procedures were done as per standard protocol. The stained smear were screened & interpreted as per RNTCP guidelines. Results: Liquid media exhibited growth as early as 10th day, while LJ media had the growth only on the V week. The liquid media half the rate of the solid media.LED microscopic examination was more sensitive than ZN stain. Conclusion: One of the biggest obstacles to the correct diagnosis & efficient management of tuberculosis is the absence of rapid reporting of the bacilli in the given clinical specimen, overcome by the liquid media used in our study.