Tuberculosis is of great concern worldwide. The situation has become worse because of HIV and drug resistance. To prevent the spread of infection an early diagnosis and effective treatment is required. Different modalities have been adopted for the diagnosis of TB but the confirmation is usually done by microscopy, culture and molecular methods. Robert Koch (1882) observed under microscope, that a growing culture of Mycobacterium tuberculosis formed serpentine cords at a very early stage.8 Microslide culture technique was described by him but it could not be practiced because of bacterial and fungal contamination of the media. In the recent years, these problems have been overcome with the incorporation of antifungal and antibiotics in the media. The microslide slide culture technique has been improved to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis and it has been compared with direct smear microscopy and the cultivation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis on the Lowenstein Jensen (LJ) medium for the sputum smear positive and negative cases. Many studies have shown that rapid slide culture is as sensitive as the LJ medium in detecting Mycobacterium tuberculosis.The present study was carried out to check the susceptibility of First Line and Second Line drugs by the microslide culture method and compared it with the existing methods of drugs susceptibility testing. (LPA for first line and second line drugs). Results were very encouraging and promising. It needs further research. SGT University, Gurugram (Haryana), India is planning to continue this research.
Monika Sharma
