Rapid Slide Culture Technique for Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and Predictors of Poor Outcomes among Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients

Tuberculosis (TB), a dreadful disease known to mankind continues to be a problem in a developing country likeIndia. The incidence of people getting infected with TB is on the rise due to compounding factors like coinfectionwith the human immunodefiency virus and multidrug-resistant strains. There is a definitive need for earlydiagnosis and treatment of TB to curb transmission of the infection. Direct smear microscopy, though cheap andrapid, lacks sensitivity. Isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in culture requires a long time, because of whichthere is a need for a rapid method which has good sensitivity and specificity for the detection of M. tuberculosis.Hence the present study was undertaken to determine Performance of rapid slide culture method for confirmingpulmonary tuberculosis in clinically suspected and smear positive cases and also to assess the factors responsiblefor poor outcomes in the study population.