A COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF PETROFF’S METHOD AND NALC-NaOH DIGESTION DECONTAMINATION PROCEDURE FOR THE ISOLATION OF MYCOBACTERIA FROM CLINICAL SPECIMENS IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Abstract

BACKGROUNDTuberculosis is the leading cause of death from a curable infectious disease. [1] Examination by mycobacterial culture provides the only definitive diagnosis of tuberculosis. [3] Isolation of Mycobacteria from specimens contaminated with normal flora like sputum poses a problem in view of high nutritive value of the egg media used for mycobacterial culture. Different laboratories use different decontamination techniques. No single technique is entirely satisfactory. Hence, this study was conducted to compare the Petroff's method and NALC-NAOH (N-Acetyl-L-cysteine NaOH) method digestion decontamination procedures.