Evaluation of the resazurin microtiter assay (REMA) directly applied on clinical specimens

MORCILLO N; B IMPERIALE

Amberes

Workshop; Cuarta reunión del proyecto: “Development of a two-approach plate system for the fast and simultaneous detection of MDR and XDR M. tuberculosis”. European Commission, 7th Framework Porgramme on Research, Technological Development and Demonstration; 2011

Instituto de Medicina Tropical, Amberes

The aim of this study was to evaluate a simple and direct colorimetric-based method (REMA) designed for the rapid detection of multidrug-resistant and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB, XDR-TB) from positive sputum smear samples (D-REMA). A total of 129 clinical specimens were included in the study and the drugs tested were isoniazid (INH), rifampicin (RIF), streptomycin, amikacyn, ethambutol, kanamycin, levofloxacin (LX) and moxifloxacin. D-REMA showed: good sensitivity, specificity for INH, KM, RIF and LX resistance detection and good correlation between MIC values and DST results Cutoff correlations between D and I-REMA: 100% General loses (contaminates+no growth) raised up to 6.9% of the clinical samples Detection of drug-resistant microorganisms was possible using D-REMA in an average of 15.5 days