PURPOSE To evaluate the utility of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test for diagnosing osteoarticular tuberculosis (TB). METHODS Clinical samples (synovial tissue and synovial fluid) obtained from 23 cases of suspected osteoarticular tuberculosis were subjected to Ziehl Neelsen (ZN) smear examination, radiometric BACTEC culture and PCR test for tuberculosis by amplifying 65 kDa antigen co...

A group of 89 smear-positive sputum specimens were evaluated by radiometric and standard plate procedures to determine the methodology which would provide the earliest detection of mycobacteria and maximum test sensitivity. Digested non-decontaminated specimens were concentrated and inoculated into modified selective BACTEC radiometric 7H12 broth and Mitchison selective 7H10 agar. Sodium hydrox...

Security is a vital issue in the usage of Automated Teller Machine (ATM) for cash, cashless and many off the counter banking transactions. Weaknesses in the use of ATM machine could not only lead to loss of customer’s data confidentiality and integrity but also breach in the verification of user’s authentication. Several challenges are associated with the use of ATM smart card such as: card clo...

Propionibacterium acnes is a gram-positive anaerobic bacillus and a normal inhabitant of the skin. Although it is often considered a contaminant of blood cultures, it can occasionally cause serious infections, including postoperative central nervous system infections. Here, we report the case of a 70-yr-old man who developed a large cerebral abscess caused by P. acnes 13 months after neurosurge...

Clinical diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is difficult due to the disease’s inconsistent clinical presentation. Furthermore, owing to the paucibacillary nature of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), traditional techniques for detecting acid-fast bacilli have limitations. Hence, isolating mycobacteria from CSF by culture is a challenge. There is a dire need to improve, accelerate, and enhance is...

The rate of recovery and time to the detection of mycobacteria from clinical specimens were measured for biphasic and radiometric liquid-based culture systems and egg-based media (3% Ogawa and Ogawa K). From the 245 sputum specimens processed, a total of 86 (35.1%) mycobacterial isolates were detected. Of these, 81 (94.2%) and 80 (93.0%) isolates were detected with the MB-Check and BACTEC syste...

INTRODUCTION Accurate quantification of mycobacterial load is important for the evaluation of patient infectiousness, disease severity and monitoring treatment response in human and in-vitro laboratory models of disease. We hypothesized that newer techniques would perform as well as solid media culture to quantify mycobacterial burden in laboratory specimens. METHODS We compared the turn-arou...

A 20-ml blood sample was collected from adult patients with suspected bloodstream infections and distributed equally into the four volume-controlled bottles of a blood culture set consisting of aerobic and anaerobic BACTEC Plus/F bottles and aerobic and anaerobic BacT/Alert FAN bottles. All bottles were incubated in their respective instruments for a standard 5-day protocol or until the instrum...