RITU KANSAL, CHARU AGRAWAL, MOLLY MADAN AND ASHISH K. ASTHANA
Abstract
Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) is a significant health problem in both developing & developed countries. India is the highest tuberculosis burden country accounting for one fifth of the global incidence ranges between 8.3% and 13.1% in different districts. The aim of this study is to evaluate PCR as a rapid and sensitive tool for diagnosis of clinically suspected cases of Extra pulmonary tuberculosis. Two hundred samples of clinically suspected cases of EPTB were collected and processed for Mycobacteria by Ziehl-Neelsen staining and also for PCR amplification with primers targeting 123 bp fragment of insertion element IS6110 of M. tuberculosis complex. 65 samples were positive for M.tuberculosis complex by nPCR. Out of these 65 PCR positive samples, only 22 (68.75%) were ZN smear positive.We conclude that PCR assay targeting 123 bp fragment of IS6110 is a highly sensitive and specific test for rapid diagnosis of EPTBs.