Evaluation of Newly Modified Potassium Nitrate Containing Media in Detection and Antibiogram of Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Background: Mycobacterium is a genus of Actinobacteria, given its own family, the Mycobacteriaceae. The genus includes pathogens known to cause serious diseases in mammals, including tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) and the classic Hansen's strain of leprosy (Mycobacterium leprae) [1]. Tuberculosis is the most common life-threatening opportunistic infection (OI) and AIDS defining illness in developing countries [2]. The routine identification methods of tuberculosis includes, Tuberculin skin test, Chest X-ray, Growth and physical characteristics of the bacteria, automated based system such as BACTEC 460 TB method, Mycobacterium growth indicator tube (MGIT) method, MB/BacT system, as well as molecular based techniques as in Amplification of nucleic acid for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis [3-6]. Objectives: To evaluate the validity of newly modified potassium nitrate containing medium (NMK) for rapid detection and antibiogram of M tuberculosis. Material and method: This was a health facility based observational diagnostics retrospective study. 125 sputum specimens were investigated to evaluate the validity of newly modified potassium nitrate containing medium for rapid detection and antibiogram of M tuberculosis. Results: 83/125 (66.4%) showed growth after 5-9 days with a mean of 6.58± 0.977 days NMK - containing medium. Conclusions: The NMK - containing medium showed promising results, it showed a positive growth sings and susceptibility results within 5-9 days of inoculation showing much superior than the golden standard LJ medium.