Wednesday, April 28, 2010

If direct examination of the sputum from a case of suspected pulmonary tuberculosis fails to reveal acid-fast


If direct examination of the sputum from a case of suspected pulmonary tuberculosis fails to reveal acid-fast?
...organisms, what further bacteriological methods should be employed?
Infectious Diseases - 5 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
cultures taken from the throat and sputum should be made and grown to identify the organism responsible. Sometimes it's the only way to get a definitive diagnosis of TB, which is notoriously difficult to capture. If there is evidence on the xray, then that should be the next step. Takes a while to grow, though- and the culture needs to be from deep expectoratation sputum samples, not just the usual cough and spit.
2 :
The specimen should be cultured to determine if it contains m. tuberculosis; the presence of this organism confirms the diagnosis.
3 :
Wiat for the results of acid fast cultures
4 :
The following should be done: X-ray chest PA view, Blood Test includes TLC,DLC, Hb% and ESR . Sputum Culture, and Mx. Test If necessary throat swab and culture also shoud be done.
5 :
We can not depend on just one smear or just one sample. We usually require sputum sample, thrice for one day interval. If still negative and the doctor is certain with the clinical diagnosis (considering the Chest PA, blood tests & signs and symptoms ), then they can go for the MTB Culture (which is so expensive and time consuming..40 days of growing the mTB..remember that it is really hard to culture this bacteria ..it does not grow on ordinary Blood agar plate or Mcconkey). But the ruel is to find the Acid fast bacilli first before jumping to Culture. Hope this helps. God bless


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