Current situation in the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis

Tuberculosis still remains as an important health problem worldwide. Key factors in the control of tuberculosis are rapid detection, adequate therapy and contact tracing to prevent transmission. Early diagnosis of tuberculosis and initiating optimal treatment would not only enable the cure of an individual patient but will also prevent the transmission of disease to others in the community. Therefore there is a need for rapid, sensitive, reliable and cost-effective methods for the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis. Culture is the gold standard for the laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis. While microscopy and culture are still the major backbone for laboratory diagnosis of tuberculosis, new methods including molecular diagnostic tests have evolved over the last two decades. Recent developments in molecular techniques have led to the methods for rapid diagnosis of tuberculosis. However, the sensitivity of a molecular method should be at least as high as of a standard culture method in order to be used in routine tuberculosis laboratory. Although the current molecular methods are not satisfactory for the diagnosis of tuberculosis, new candidates are arising rapidly.