Utility of GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis/Rifampin Assay for Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis Samples
A total of 3,806 samples from suspected cases of extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) were subjected to GeneXpert Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB)/rifampin (RIF) assay. Samples consisted of body fluids, pleural fluids, pus and aspirates, lymph node (LN) tissues, and others. Mycobacterium tuberculosis positivity was detected in 18.10% and RIF positivity in 2.73% samples. The MTB/RIF positivity was found highest in pus and aspirates (40.38%). In this study, assay failure rate for GeneXpert MTB/RIF assay was very low (1.99%). It is concluded from this study that GeneXpert MTB/RIF is an efficient, reliable, simple, and fast technique for rapid diagnosis of EPTB in our country where incidence of tuberculosis remains high.