ISSN: 0973-7510
E-ISSN: 2581-690X
The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) to detect M. tuberculosis in body fluids of patients with suspected Tuberculosis. Suspected cases were chosen for study and controls included patients free of clinical TB. PCR was done on the clinical specimens and compared with AFB staining, culture on Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium and qualitative analysis by Dot ELISA. The sensitivity of PCR was found to be 100% in all 3 types of body fluids namely ascitic fluid, pleural fluid and CSF. PCR technique clearly becomes a valuable diagnostic tool for extrapulmonary TB in detecting fewer undetectable viable or non-viable MTB microbes.
PCR, Tuberculosis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, CSF, Acid Fast Bacilli, ELISA
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