Evaluation of serodiagnosis of tuberculosis in comparison with traditional methods

ABSTRACT

Tuberculosis is an enormous tool of morbidity and mortality. The vast majority of tuberculosis patients live in developing countries, where the diagnosis of tuberculosis relies on the identification of acid-fast bacilli on unprocessed sputum smears using conventional light microscopy. Microscopy has high specificity in tuberculosis-endemic countries, but modest sensitivity which varies among laboratories [range 20% to 80%]