PLoS ONE (Jan 2021)

Performance of the Abbott RealTime MTB and RIF/INH resistance assays for the detection of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis and resistance markers in sputum specimens.

  • Bezalem Tesfaye Araya,
  • Kirubel Eshetu Ali,
  • Dereje Assefa Geleta,
  • Saba Gebremichael Tekele,
  • Kassu Desta Tulu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251602
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 5
p. e0251602

Abstract

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BackgroundThe Abbott RealTime MTB is an assay for the detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) complex DNA from respiratory specimens in combination with the Abbott RealTime RIF/INH assay for the detection of genetic resistance markers for isoniazid (INH) and rifampicin (RIF) from MTB positive isolates. Hence, this study aimed to evaluate the performance of the Abbott RealTime MTB and RIF/INH assays.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 289 study subjects presumptive to have pulmonary tuberculosis at Nigist Eleni Mohammed Memorial Hospital, South Ethiopia from April 2017 to June 2018. Two morning expectorated sputum specimens were collected from each study participant. One sample was tested directly by Xpert MTB/RIF assay at Nigist Eleni Mohammed Memorial Hospital and the other sample was used for smear microscopy, TB culture, Abbott RealTime MTB, and Abbott RealTime INH/RIF assays at International Clinical Laboratories, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The diagnostic performance of the Abbott RealTime MTB and INH/RIF assays were calculated against MGIT liquid culture and phenotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST) as the gold standard.ResultsFor the detection of MTB the Abbott RealTime MTB assay exhibited sensitivity 92.4% (95% CI 83.6-96.9), specificity 95.4% (95% CI 91.1-97.7), PPV 89.0% (95% CI 79.7-94.5) and NPV 96.9% (95% CI 93.0-98.7). For the detection of RIF resistance MTB, Abbott RealTime MTB RIF/INH concurred with phenotypic DST and Xpert MTB/RIF, while for the detection of INH resistance MTB, the sensitivity, specificity, PPV and NPV of the Abbott MTB RIF/INH assay was 84.2% (95% CI 60.4-96.6), 100% (95% CI 89.7-100), 100% and 91.9% (95% CI 80.0-96.9), respectively.ConclusionsThe Abbott RTMTB and RIF/INH assays revealed high sensitivity and specificity in MTB diagnosis and provided reliable INH and RIF resistance profiles. This assay has a similar diagnostic performance to the Xpert MTB/RIF assay with the advantages of high-throughput.