Comparative evaluation of three culture methods for the isolation of mycobacteria from clinical samples.

We assessed the capacity of two liquid-medium culture methods with automated incubation and reading systems (MB/BacT ALERT 3D System and BACTEC MGIT 960 System) and one solid-medium culture method (Löwenstein- Jensen) to detect mycobacteria in different types of clinical samples. Out of 1,770 cultured clinical samples (1,519 of respiratory origin and 251 of nonrespiratory origin), mycobacteria were isolated in 156 samples (135 M. tuberculosis complex, 8 M. chelonae, 6 M. kansasii, 4 M. fortuitum, 2 M. gordonae, and 1 M. marinum) by at least one of the methods used. The BACTEC MGIT 960 System proved to be the most sensitive method (86.5%), especially in the detection of M. tuberculosis complex (89.1%). However, Löwenstein- Jensen culture was the most sensitive (76.2%) to detect nontuberculous mycobacteria. The BACTEC MGIT 960 System showed the lowest mean detection time for mycobacterial growth (15.3 days), significantly shorter than the other two methods. Highest sensitivity (95.5%) and specificity (99.6%) values were obtained using the BACTEC MGIT 960 System with the Löwenstein-Jensen culture method, which was also the only combination capable of detecting 100% of the nontuberculous mycobacteria.