Tuberculosis: 7. Laboratory aspects of diagnosis

Table 3: Services provided in national and provincial tuberculosis laboratories of the Canadian Tuberculosis Laboratory Network, as of January 1998   Isolation   Identification                 Microscopy Specimen   Tuberculosis MAC MOTT   Special testing           Province/ territory* AUR ZN–K BACTEC Solid media Primary AMPL   Biochem NA probes Drug sens.† Ident'n Drug sens. Ident'n Drug sens.   RFLP Drug levels Other Nfld. R   R R X   R R 1 R   R           PEI R R R R                           NS R R R R       R R-1 R               NB R R R R                           Que.             R (HPLC)   2 R (HPLC) R R (HPLC) R         Ont. R R R R R   R R 2 R (HPLC) R R (HPLC) R   R R PCR-X Man. R R R R R   R R R-2 R R R R   R X (urine)   Sask. (N) R R R R X   R R 1 R   R           Sask. (S) R R R R       R R-1 R   X           Alta.‡ R R R R X   R R R-2 R R R R   R   MG/T BC§ R R R R R   R R 2 R X R X   X     NWT R R R R                           LCDC‡ X X X X     R R R-2 R R R R   X R PCR Note: MAC = Mycobacterium aviumcomplex, MOTT = mycobacteria other than tuberculosis, AUR = auramine fluorescence staining, ZN–K = Zihl–Neelsen and Kinyoun staining, BACTEC = BACTEC 460TB system (Becton-Dickinson Diagnostic Instruments Systems, Maryland), AMPL = amplification, Biochem = biochemical testing, NA = nucleic acids, Ident'n = identification, Sens. = sensitivity, RFLP = DNA fingerprinting, R = test performed routinely, available at all times, X = laboratory can perform the test, if not routinely, HPLC = high-performance liquid chromatography, PCR = polymerase chain reaction, LCDC = Laboratory Centre for Disease Control, Health Canada. *For addresses of laboratories, see listing elsewhere in this paper. †1 = first-line agents, 2 = first- or second-line agents. ‡Certified level 3 laboratory. §Pending level 3 certification.

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