Proficiency testing of conventional drug susceptibility tests of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Proficiency testing of indirect drug susceptibility tests of Mycobacterium tuberculosis was begun in 1985 by the Laboratory Centre for Disease Control (LCDC) with the participation of Provincial Public Health Laboratories in Canada. Comparable sets of 60 cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis representing 30 strains were distributed by LCDC to the participating laboratories to be tested for drug susceptibility against isoniazid, streptomycin, rifampin, and ethambutol using conventional methodologies. Intralaboratory agreement values determined by comparing results obtained on sets of duplicate cultures were high and were found to vary little from drug to drug and from laboratory to laboratory.

Conventional and radiometric drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

A recently developed method of drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis which measures the evolution of labeled CO2 from [1-14C]palmitic acid (BACTEC 460 system) was compared to three conventional methods. The proportion method of drug susceptibility testing was the standard against which all test results were compared. Indirect drug susceptibility to isoniazid, streptomycin, rifampin, and ethambutol of 245 isolates belonging to the M.

Canadian survey to determine the rate of drug resistance to isoniazid, PAS and streptomycin in newly detected untreated tuberculosis patients and retreatment cases.

In 1975, a survey was carried out in Canada to determine the primary and acquired drug resistance of M. tuberculosis isolates to isoniazid (INH), para-aminosalicylic acid (PAS) and streptomycin. The results of this investigation were compared with those of the primary drug resistant study of Armstrong, undertaken in 1963-64.