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Home / The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 16, Number 2

Recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Löwenstein-Jensen media contaminated with other organisms [Technical note]

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Growth of contaminating organisms along with Mycobacterium tuberculosis on Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium is common. However, there is no documented evidence on the decontamination procedure adopted in mycobacteriology laboratories to recover M. tuberculosis from the contaminants grown on LJ medium. At the National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, of 1048 LJ slopes with M. tuberculosis received from intermediate reference laboratories, 98 (9%) were contaminated. Of these, 87 (89%) M. tuberculosis cultures were retrieved after decontamination with 1% cetrimide. The use of cetrimide as a decontaminating agent to retrieve M. tuberculosis cultures grown with contaminants is documented.

Keywords: Löwenstein-Jensen; M. tuberculosis; cetrimide; decontamination

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: Department of Bacteriology, National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis, Chetput, Chennai, India

Publication date: 01 February 2012

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  • The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is for clinical research and epidemiological studies on lung health, including articles on TB, TB-HIV and respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, asthma, COPD, child lung health and the hazards of tobacco and air pollution. Individuals and institutes can subscribe to the IJTLD online or in print – simply email us at [email protected] for details.

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