Rapid alternative methods for detection of rifampicin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

To study the performance of three rapid low cost methods for the detection of rifampicin resistance.A panel of 20 coded Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains was tested blindly by the low cost methods: nitrate reductase, MTT and resazurin assays, and compared with the results obtained with the gold standard methods: the proportion method on Löwenstein-Jensen medium and the BACTEC TB 460 system. We have also tested two commercial tests: MGIT and INNO LiPA Rif.TB kit. Complete agreement was observed among all methods. These three simple methods might become inexpensive alternative procedures for rapid detection of rifampicin resistance in low-resource countries(AU)