Rapid Determination of Rifampin Resistance in Clinical Isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis by Real-Time PCR

Abstract
Real-time PCR was used to determine rifampin resistance in clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis . Ninety-six rifampin-resistant isolates and 23 rifampin-susceptible isolates were included in the study. A 305-bp region covering the 81-bp “rifampin resistance-determining region” of rpoB was amplified. Two hybridization probe pairs that covered the most frequent mutation sites in rpoB , codon regions 526 to 531 and 513 to 516, were used. The results obtained by real-time PCR were compared to those obtained by the proportion method. For detection of rifampin resistance, the real-time PCR assay yielded a sensitivity of 92.7% and a specificity of 100%. Real-time PCR is a very rapid method, and it can be especially helpful for the reporting of resistant clinical isolates in a very short period of time.

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