Description
TB is caused by the members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The M. tuberculosis complex includes the species M. tuberculosis, M. africanum, M. bovis, M. microti and M. canettii, which can be furthermore divided into various subspecies. Above all, early identification of the pathogen is of crucial importance for a successful treatment as the knowledge of the respective species is crucial for the selection of suitable tuberculostatics. To prevent the development of resistance, a combination therapy is preferred to a monotherapy in the treatment of tuberculosis. When using conventional diagnostic procedures, the differentiation of the mycobacterial species requires too much valuable time. In contrast, however, there is a need for isolation and rapid healing of the TB infection and also a timely containment of the risk of spreading.
The GenoType MTBC offers an essential time lead here, as time-consuming and costly biochemical analyses are replaced. The GenoType MTBC guarantees reliable identification of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) strain. The BCG vaccine strain is a derivative of M. bovis attenuated in its pathogenicity and is used for immunization against TB and for immunotherapy of malignant tumours, such as bladder cancer. Detection of the BCG strain normally does not require any medication, and therefore requires an exact differentiation from the other members of the M. tuberculosis complex.
M. bovis causes TB in domestic and wild animals, but is also of significance in human medicine. Its distinction from M. tuberculosis using GenoType MTBC is particularly important for epidemiological reasons. The differentiation of the subspecies M. bovis ssp. bovis and M. bovis ssp. caprae, important from a therapeutic point of view, is unequivocally possible with GenoType MTBC. These subspecies differ with regard to their sensitivity to the tuberculostatic pyrazinamide (PZA): whereas M. bovis ssp. caprae is PZA-sensitive, M. bovis ssp. bovis is PZA-resistant.
The GenoType MTBC also guarantees a reliable discrimination of M. africanum and M. microti against the other species of the complex.
Your benefits with GenoType MTBC
- Can be performed from solid or liquid culture material.
- Differentiation of all M. tuberculosis complex members with one simple and rapid assay.
- Results are obtained within 5 hrs compared to several weeks with conventional methods.