The evaluation of FASTPlaqueTB test for the rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis.

FASTPlaqueTB (Biotec Laboratories Ltd., Ipswich, UK) is a rapid test which utilizes bacteriophage amplification technology for the detection of viable Mycobacterium tuberculosis in clinical specimens. We evaluated performance of the FASTPlaqueTB test by comparing with BACTEC 460 TB culture system (Becton Dickinson Co., Maryland, USA), polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and acid fast bacilli (AFB) smear methods. We investigated 192 sputum specimens collected from the patients suspected of having pulmonary TB by AFB smear, BACTEC 460 TB culture system, PCR and FASTPlaqueTB test. The sensitivity of AFB smear, PCR and FASTPlaqueTB test were 57.8%, 84.4% and 87.5% respectively when we accepted BACTEC 460 TB culture system as gold standard. We conclude that FASTPlaqueTB test has a good potential for rapid diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as a result of the evaluation of these three tests by comparison to the BACTEC 460 TB culture system.