Title:Methods for Diagnosis of Human Pulmonary Tuberculosis (Mini-Review)
VOLUME: 3 ISSUE: 2
Author(s):Ana E. B. Morguette, Bruna C. Pierone, Caibe A. Pereira, Milene Ortiz-Silva, Jeanne W. Vendruscolo, Suelen S. da Silva, Idessânia N. Costa, Poliana C. Marinello, Maria A. E. Watanabe and Sérgio P. D. da Rocha
Affiliation:Department of Microbiology, Center Of Biological Sciences, State University of Londrina, P.O. Box: 86057-970, Londrina, Brazil.
Keywords:Mycobacterium tuberculosis, pulmonary tuberculosis, bacteriological methods, immunological methods, molecular
methods, imaging methods, diagnosis.
Abstract:Worldwide, every year is described 9 million of new cases of pulmonary
tuberculosis (PTB) and this disease is responsible for 1.5 million deaths. The
main causative agent of PTB is Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). The bacillus
has a cell wall rich in lipids and shows very slow growth, which raises difficulties
to the execution of cultivation methods. Although the cases and deaths are still
high, progress is being made aiming to reduce the incidence and prevalence of
PTB due to new methods of diagnosis and more efficient treatments. One of the
main challenges for the control of PTB is the high proportion of false negative results
and extended time for obtaining diagnostics, which contributes for the
spreading of the disease. The aim of this review was to approach the main methods
of laboratory diagnostics for active human pulmonary tuberculosis, focusing on bacteriological,
immunological, molecular and imaging methods.
