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J Med Microbiol 56 (2007), 1334-1339; DOI: 10.1099/jmm.0.46936-0
© 2007 Society for General Microbiology
ISSN 1473-5644

Improved contamination control for a rapid phage-based rifampicin resistance test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Richard Mole1,{dagger}, Andre Trollip1, Celeste Abrahams1,{ddagger}, Marlein Bosman2 and Heidi Albert1,§

1 Biotec Laboratories Ltd, Somerset Hospital, Greenpoint, Cape Town, South Africa

2 National Health Laboratory Service, Old City Hospital Complex, Greenpoint, Cape Town, South Africa

Correspondence
Heidi Albert
heidi.albert{at}finddiagnostics.org

Received 8 September 2006
Accepted 12 June 2007

A prospective study was conducted of the rapid FASTPlaque-Response test for determination of rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis with and without the addition of an antimicrobial supplement containing nystatin, oxacillin and aztreonam (NOA) to control specimen-related contamination. A total of 631 smear-positive sputum specimens was tested. The age of specimens ranged from 0 to 21 days. The NOA antimicrobial was effective at controlling contamination, with 4.1 % of specimens contaminated when the NOA antimicrobial supplement was used compared with 13.9 % contamination without NOA. Overall levels of interpretability of the test with NOA were 87.8 % with specimens of ≤3 days and 79.0 % for all specimens. This compared with 70.1 and 73.8 % readable results, respectively, from conventional culture-based drug susceptibility testing (DST). Sensitivity, specificity and overall accuracy of the FASTPlaque-Response test for rifampicin resistance were 98.1, 96.3 and 96.6 %, respectively, for all specimens with NOA, and 93.2, 96.3 and 95.9 % without NOA, when compared with resolved conventional DST results. Inclusion of the NOA supplement reduced contamination, increased the number of interpretable results and did not adversely affect the performance of the FASTPlaque-Response test. Thus, the use of NOA improves the robustness of the test, facilitating its wider implementation.

Abbreviations: DST, drug susceptibility testing; MDR, multi-drug resistance; NHLS, National Health Laboratory Service; NOA, nystatin, oxacillin and aztreonam; TB, tuberculosis.

{dagger}Present address: Nottingham University Business School, Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road, Nottingham NG8 1BB, UK.

{ddagger}Present address: Medical Biosciences Department, University of the Western Cape, Bellville, South Africa.

§Present address: Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND), Cape Town, South Africa.






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