Md. Khairul Hassan Jessy1, Bulbul Parveen2, Syed Nesar Ahmed2

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the lethal public health threats worldwide. The most widely used method to detect TB in most disease endemic countries is the sputum smear microscopy, which has a number of drawbacks including low sensitivity, inability to determine drug susceptibility and variable performance that depends on operator. Conventional diagnosis of drug resistant TB relies on mycobacterial culture and drug susceptibility testing (DST), a slow and cumbersome process. In contrast, the Gene Xpert MTB/RIF, a DNA based PCR test, is a revolutionary tool for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

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