Recovery andSusceptibility Testing ofMycobacterium tuberculosis fromExtrapulmonary Specimens bytheBACTECRadiometric Method

medium, and19were foundtobepositive inthe BACTEC7H12medium. Average recoverytimes were 22.5daysfortheconventional methodand10.9days fortheBACTECmethod. Whenisolated cultures weretested forsusceptibility tostreptomycin, isoniazid, rifampin, andethambutol, results werereported atan averagetimeof22and5.4daysfortheconventional andBACTECmethods, respectively, withgoodcorrelation. Several reports havebeenpublished onthedetection and recovery aswell assusceptibility testing ofMycobacterium tuberculosis fromsputumspecimens bytheradiometric method (1,3-6). However, noreport dealing withtheuseof radiometric techniques forextrapulmonary specimens has beenpublished. Since specimens other thansputa arealso frequently submitted formycobacterial investigations, we decided toevaluate theBACTECrapid radiometric technique forthese samples. Inthis study, concentrated specimensofurine, pleural fluid, andbloodaswellasother nonsputum samples wereexamined byusing conventional Lowenstein-Jensen (L-J) slants andthenewBACTECMidd