ISSN: 0973-7510

E-ISSN: 2581-690X

Research Article | Open Access
Shoaib Khan1 , Nahid Nahvi1, Umara Amin2, Yousuf Ul Bashir1 and Danish Zahoor1
1Department of Microbiology, Govt. Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
2Department of Microbiology, Govt. Medical College, Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir, India.
J Pure Appl Microbiol. 2021;15(2):630-638 | Article Number: 6855
https://doi.org/10.22207/JPAM.15.2.06 | © The Author(s). 2021
Received: 13/01/2021 | Accepted: 16/03/2021 | Published: 08/04/2021
Abstract

Cutaneous tuberculosis (CTB) is the rarest case of extrapulmonary TB comprising 2% of total cases. It’s often a challenge both clinically and diagnostically. 1) To determine prevalence, age & gender-wise distribution of CTB. 2) To assess various diagnostic, microbiological modalities for the diagnosis of CTB. 76 skin biopsy specimens from suspected CTB lesions were analysed using following methods – Acid-fast Bacilli (AFB) staining (Ziehl-Neelsen method), growth of mycobacteria in culture (Lowenstein-Jensen media), and Gene Xpert MTB/RIF, Histopathological (H&E staining). Of the 76 specimens, 44 were males and 32 were females. The most commonly affected age group was 40–59 years. Infections were least common in 0-19 years age group. AFB was not seen in any of the primary smears. 10 were confirmed as CTB by the recovery of Mycobacterium in solid culture. Of the 10 culture positives, 9 were confirmed as MTB, and 1 was found to be NTM. Staining of 10 culture positive specimens revealed acid fast, beaded rods. Detection of MTB by Gene Xpert gave positive result in 9 cases with all RIF sensitive. All 9 PCR confirmed cases were also culture positive, all 9 were slow growers with a minimum of 5 weeks required for growth on the LJ slant. PCR is the test of choice and should be performed on all specimens of suspected CTB. However when coupled with the “gold standard” culture method, the diagnostic accuracy improves. Also, further, culture helps in identification and isolation of NTM’s.

Keywords

Mycobacterium, Cutaneous tuberculosis, Lupus vulgaris, Acid-fast staining, Culture, GeneXpert MTB/RIF

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© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, sharing, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.