Utility of MPT64 Antigen Detection for Rapid Confirmation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex

Background: Rapid differentiation of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) and mycobacteria other than tuberculosis (MOTT) is crucial to facilitate early and effective treatment of the patients. Clinical presentation of MTBC and MOTT is not always very clear and routine conventional methods are time consuming. Materials and Methods: In the present study, the MPT64 protein detection-based immunochomatographic test (SD Bioline Kit, Standard Diagnostics, Inc., Korea) was compared with the conventional biochemical method. Results: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive, and negative predictive values of the SD AgMPT64 kit were found to be 100, 96.4, 98.72, and 100%, respectively. Conclusions: Our results have demonstrated that the SD bioline kit is a rapid, reliable method and it can be used in the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP) of India, for the appropriate management of tuberculosis.