Dramatic reduction of culture time of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Ramzi Ghodbane (1) , Didier Raoult (1) , Michel Drancourt (1)

1 URMITE - Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes

Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture, a critical technique for routine diagnosis of tuberculosis, takes more than two weeks. Here, step-by-step improvements in the protocol including a new medium, microaerophlic atmosphere or ascorbic-acid supplement and autofluorescence detection dramatically shortened this delay. In the best case, primary culture and rifampicin susceptibility testing were achieved in 72 hours when specimens were inoculated directly on the medium supplemented by antibiotic at the beginning of the culture.

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Bacteriology

Ramzi Ghodbane, Didier Raoult, Michel Drancourt. Dramatic reduction of culture time of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Scientific Reports, 2014, 4, pp.4236. ⟨10.1038/srep04236⟩. ⟨hal-01772544⟩