Brief Report

Failure of BACTEC™ MGIT 960™ to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex within a 42-day incubation period

Sharana Mahomed, Nomonde R. Dlamini-Mvelase, Moses Dlamini, Koleka Mlisana
African Journal of Laboratory Medicine | Vol 6, No 1 | a537 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v6i1.537 | © 2017 Sharana Mahomed, Nomonde R. Dlamini-Mvelase, Moses Dlamini, Koleka Mlisana | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 24 July 2016 | Published: 26 April 2017

About the author(s)

Sharana Mahomed, National Health Laboratory Services, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, KwaZulu Natal and Department of Medical Microbiology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Nomonde R. Dlamini-Mvelase, National Health Laboratory Services, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, KwaZulu Natal and Department of Medical Microbiology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
Moses Dlamini, National Health Laboratory Services, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Koleka Mlisana, National Health Laboratory Services, Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital, Durban, KwaZulu Natal and Department of Medical Microbiology, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa

Abstract

For the optimal recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from the BACTEC™ Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube 960™ system, an incubation period of 42–56 days is recommended by the manufacturer. Due to logistical reasons, it is common practice to follow an incubation period of 42 days. We undertook a retrospective study to document positive Mycobacterium Growth Indicator Tube cultures beyond the 42-day incubation period. In total, 98/110 (89%) were positive for M. tuberculosis complex. This alerted us to M. tuberculosis growth detection failure at 42 days.


Keywords

MGIT; tuberculosis; incubation period

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