Evaluation of direct method of drug susceptibility testing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis to rifampicin and isoniazid by nitrate reductase assay in a national reference laboratory.

The aim of this study was to evaluate a simple, rapid, and inexpensive colorimetric nitrate reductase assay (NRA) for direct drug susceptibility testing (DST) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis against rifampicin (RIF) and isoniazid (INH). A total of 118 smear-positive specimens were processed from patients on antituberculosis treatment. A comparison was made between the direct NRA of DST with the direct proportion method and with the internationally accepted indirect 1% proportion method as the "gold standard".