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The gold standard method for diagnosis of tuberculosis is the isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis through culture, but there is a probability of cross-contamination in simultaneous cultures of samples causing false-positives. This can result in delayed treatment of the underlying disease and drug side effects. In this paper, we reviewed studies on falsepositive cultures of M. tuberculosis. Rate of occurrence, effective factors, and extent of false-positives were analyzed. Ways to identify and reduce the false-positives and management of them are critical for all laboratories. In most cases, falsepositive is occurring in cases with only one positive culture but negative direct smear. The three most crucial factors in this regard are inappropriate technician function, contamination of reagents, and aerosol production. Thus, to reduce false-positives, good laboratory practice, as well as use of whole-genome sequencing or genotyping of all positive culture samples with a robust, extra pure method and rapid response, are essential for minimizing the rate of false-positives. Indeed, molecular approaches and epidemiological surveillance can provide a valuable tool besides culture to identify possible false positives.

Background: Planning for control of tuberculosis would need to screen and identify individuals susceptible to TB. Due to the weakness of immune system in diabetic patients, it is more likely for them to reactivate of latent TB infection. Regarding to the increasing number of diabetics in the community, it has been making an effort in this study to estimate the frequency of individuals which have tuberculosis and diabetes mellitus (TB-DM) simultaneously, so that it could help making preventive decisions to reduce TB in this part of Iran. Materials and Methods: In this study, 329 cases of confirmed TB patients were divided into two groups of diabetic and non-diabetic, then demographic information and clinical variables have been compared between the two groups. Results: Among examined subjects, 47 patients (14.29 %) had suffered from diabetes mellitus and tuberculosis. All of DM patients had pulmonary tuberculosis and 87.23% of them were over age 50. Conclusion: Majority of DM-TB patients were over 50 years of age and also more than half of them were women. So it seems that for DM women over age 50, to detect tuberculosis, screening tests such as PPD may be necessary.