The impact of repeated NALC/NaOH- decontamination on the performance of Xpert MTB/RIF assay

The Xpert MTB/RIF assay detects Mycobacterium tuberculosis in unprocessed or NALC/NaOH- decontaminated sputum. The effect of repeated NALC/NaOH-decontamination on several Xpert performance parameters was assessed in this study. A second NALC/NaOH-decontamination had no effect on the binary Xpert-outcome but increased the value for the quantitative readout (CTmin). Repeated decontamination was not associated with PCR-inhibition or invalid results. The CTmin of M.tb positive samples was higher in inhibited Xpert runs.

Source: Tuberculosis - April 4, 2018 Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Andrea Rachow, Elmar Saathoff, Bariki Mtafya, Daniel Mapamba, Chacha Mangu, Gabriel Rojas-Ponce, Nyanda E. Ntinginya, Martin Boeree, Norbert Heinrich, Stephen H. Gillespie, Michael Hoelscher, PanACEA-Consortium Source Type: research