Recovery and susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from extrapulmonary specimens by the BACTEC radiometric method.

This study was carried out to evaluate the sensitivity and rapidity of the BACTEC radiometric techniques for isolation and susceptibility testing of mycobacteria from extrapulmonary specimens. Concentrated specimens of urine, pleural fluid, and blood as well as other extrapulmonary specimens were processed for the recovery of mycobacteria and for drug susceptibility testing, employing conventional and BACTEC radiometric methods. Out of 483 specimens processed, 20 were found to be positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the conventional Lowenstein -Jensen medium, and 19 were found to be positive in the BACTEC 7H12 medium. Average recovery times were 22.5 days for the conventional method and 10.9 days for the BACTEC method. When isolated cultures were tested for susceptibility to streptomycin, isoniazid, rifampin, and ethambutol, results were reported at an average time of 22 and 5.4 days for the conventional and BACTEC methods, respectively, with good correlation.