A Prospective, Multicenter Study of Laboratory Cross-Contamination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Cultures

Abstract

A prospective study of false-positive cultures of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that resulted from laboratory cross-contamination was conducted at three laboratories in California. Laboratory cross-contamination accounted for 2% of the positive cultures. Cross-contamination should be a concern when an isolate matches the genotype of another sample processed during the same period.

Keywords

• Mycobacterium tuberculosis
• laboratory cross-contamination
• DNA fingerprinting
• RFLP typing
• United States