Samples for Mycobacterium Tuberculosis

Samples for bacteriological diagnosis usually depends on the affected anatomical sites by infections. The commenest lesion in Mycobacterium tuberculosis is oulmonary infection. Sputum is usually an acceptable sample for diagnosis.
If a patient cannot produce sputum, any method for sputum induction is encouraged. This is especially beneficial to ensure high sensitivity of sputum smear tests in resource-poor settings where such drastic methods as gastric washing or fibro-optic bronchoscopy cannot be used.143 It was shown that induction performed well in developing countries with little added costs.144 Recently, a new device for sputum induction called the ‘lung flute’ has been developed and may be worth trying145 (refer to Table 1 for collecting and processing specimens for the diagnosis of tuberculosis)