Advances in laboratory diagnostic methods and detection techniques for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection

Currently, tuberculosis is still a leading public health problem that seriously threatens the health of people in our country.While early, rapid and accurate detection of tuberculosis plays a vital role inthe effective prevention and treatment of tuberculosis.The positive rate of conventional Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture and smear technique in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis still needs to be improved.With continuous progress over the past years inserological and molecular biology techniques, these techniques are widely used in the early diagnosis of tuberculosis due to and high sensitivity and specificity of the rapid tests.In the diagnostic criteria for tuberculosis revised by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of People′s Republic of China in 2017, the positive results for nucleic acid amplification tests has been taken as one of the diagnostic basis for tuberculosis.This review covers the advances in laboratory diagnostic techniques for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Key words: Tuberculosis; Laboratory diagnostics; Interferon-gamma releaseassay