Quantifying viable M. tuberculosis safely obviating the need for high containment facilities

Bariki Mtafya, Emmanuel Musisi, Paschal Qwaray, Emanuel Sichone, Natasha Walbaum, Nyanda Elias Ntinginya, Stephen H Gillespie, Wilber Sabiiti*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an infectious pathogen that requires biosafety level-3 laboratory for handling. The risk of transmission is high to laboratory staff, and to manage the organism safely, it is necessary to construct high containment laboratory facilities at great expense. This limits the application of tuberculosis diagnostics to areas where there is insufficient capital to invest in laboratory infrastructure. In this method, we describe a process of inactivating sputum samples by either heat or guanidine thiocyanate (GTC) that renders them safe without affecting the quantification of viable bacteria. This method eliminates the need for level 3 containment laboratory for the tuberculosis molecular bacterial load assay (TB-MBLA) and is applicable in low- and middle-income countries.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAntibiotic resistance protocols
EditorsStephen H. Gillespie
Place of PublicationNew York
PublisherHumana Press
Pages145-152
Number of pages8
Edition4
ISBN (Electronic)9781071639818
ISBN (Print)9781071639801
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2 Jul 2024

Publication series

NameMethods in molecular biology
PublisherHumana Press
Volume2833
ISSN (Print)1064-3745
ISSN (Electronic)1940-6029

Keywords

  • Mycobacterium tuberculosis/isolation & purification
  • Humans
  • Thiocyanates
  • Containment of biohazards/methods
  • Sputum/microbiology
  • Bacterial load/methods
  • Tuberculosis/diagnosis
  • Guanidines
  • Hot temperature
  • Microbial viability

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Quantifying viable M. tuberculosis safely obviating the need for high containment facilities'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this