TB-EFI, a novel 18-Plex microbead-based method for prediction of second-line drugs and ethambutol resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex.

Several diagnostic tests are being developed to detect drug resistance in tuberculosis. In line with previous developments detecting rifampicin and isoniazid resistance using microbead-based systems (spoligoriftyping and TB-SPRINT), we present here an assay called TB-EFI detecting mutations involved in resistance to ethambutol, fluoroquinolones and the three classical injectable drugs (kanamycin, amikacin and capreomycin) in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The proposed test includes both wild-type and mutant probes for each targeted locus.

Detection of mixed infections with Mycobacterium lentiflavum and Mycobacterium avium by molecular genotyping methods.

Three mycobacterial isolates, one from the blood of an HIV-infected patient and two consecutive isolates from a woman with unknown HIV status, had been identified as belonging to the Mycobacterium avium complex by conventional procedures. In both patients, using genetic analysis procedures such as PCR-restriction enzyme analysis (PRA) of the hsp65 gene, a commercially available reverse hybridization-based assay (INNO-LiPA mycobacteria) and/or sequencing analysis of the 16S-23S internal transcribed spacer (ITS), the presence of Mycobacterium lentiflavum was also demonstrated. At the time of detection, both cases were also infected with M.