One year experience using mycobacterial blood cultures to diagnose tuberculosis in patients with prolonged fever in Vietnam

Abstract

Introduction: To evaluate the use of mycobacterial blood cultures (MBC) in diagnosing tuberculosis (TB) in patients with prolonged fever admitted to a Vietnamese referral hospital. Results: MBCs from 94 patients (66% male; median age 33 years; 75% HIV positive) were evaluated: 14 were mycobacterium positive (all HIV positive), and MBC was the only positive specimen in 9 cases (41%). Three positive cases were identified as Mycobacterium avium and the remaining M. tuberculosis (one case could not be identified). Conclusion: MBC can be a valuable additional method to diagnose TB, particularly in immunosuppressed HIV patients when sputum cannot be collected.

Mycobacterial Blood Culture for Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in Vietnamese Children

“…The time to positivity of mycobacterial blood culture in children with suspected TB in this study was long [median turnaround time (TAT): 25 days], similar to studies in adults. 7,9 Recently, it was found that detection of MTB in blood using GeneXpert MTB/ RIF could produce results within a day. The sensitivity of GeneXpert MTB/RIF was found to be similar to that of mycobacterial blood culture in a study of 104 HIV infected adults, 10 but the high volume of blood used here (20 mL) could be problematic in small children.…”