Development of Tuberculosis Diagnostic Kit

Sputum samples from 200 patients with chest or respiratory problems will be collected. Presence of M. tuberculosis in the samples will be checked by acid-fast stain and bacterial culture and identification methods. At the same time, saliva, urine, and serum samples from these 200 patients and 50 healthy volunteers will be collected. The tuberculosis diagnostic kit (HR-103) from Oncoprobe Inc. or capilia TB assay or another Immunochromatographic assay such as ESAT-6 and CFP-10 based or other PCR based immunochromatographic assay will be used to detect tuberculosis disease from these samples. By comparing the results with the stain and identification results of sputum samples from the 200 patients, the sensitivity and specificity of the kit in detection of pulmonary tuberculosis from saliva, urine,pleura and serum samples, as well as from combination of these samples, will be obtained. In addition to pulmonary tuberculosis, M. tuberculosis causes pleural tuberculosis. Diagnosis of pleural tuberculosis involves determination of activities of adenosine deaminase and interferon-gamma in pleural effusion, which is tedious. We also plan to collect pleural effusion samples from 100 patients, and examined by the tuberculosis diagnostic kit (HR-103) from Oncoprobe Inc. By comparing the results with the adenosine deaminase and interferon-gamma activities of the same samples, the sensitivity and specificity of the kit in detection of pleural tuberculosis from pleural effusion samples will be obtained.