Contamination rates in serially sampled sputum specimens obtained during tuberculosis treatment to capture culture conversion.

ABSTRACT: Sputum cultures are the gold standard for tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis and treatment monitoring. However, cultures in MGIT liquid media are susceptible to microbial contamination, often rendering them uninterpretable. Research has shown that maintaining strict cold chains and supervised sample collection can reduce contamination rates, but few longitudinal studies with weekly sampling have explored this. Here, we evaluated whether (i) the time between specimen collection and laboratory processing and (ii) unsupervised specimen collection are associated with contamination rates. Additionally, we estimated contamination rates over the first 12 weeks of treatment and assessed the clinical and behavioral predictors of contamination. We collected 3,155 sputum specimens from 301 participants unde

SUBMITTER: Niemand N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12502799 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature