Correlation Between Susceptibility of Mycobacterium
tuberculosis by Microtiter Plate Alamar Blue Assay and
Clinical Outcomest
SOMNUEK SUNGKANUPARPH, M.D.*, BENJAMAS BUABUT, B.Sc.**,
ROONGNAPA PRACHARKTAM, M.Sc.**, WIPHA WEE KIATATCHASAI, M.Ed. *,
AMMARIN THAKKINSTIAN, M.Med.Stats. ***
Affiliation : * Department of Medicine,
** Department of Pathology,
*** Clinical Epidemiology Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok 10400,
Thailand.
t The abstract of this article was presented as Poster 3.48 at 7'h Western Pacific Congress of Chemotherapy and Infec
tious Diseases, Hong Kong, II'h -14'h December 2000.
AbstractA rapid, inexpensive, and reliable antimycobacterial susceptibility assay is needed to effec
tively deal with the increasing prevalence of resistant strains of M. tuberculosis in Thailand. The
microtiter plate Alamar blue assay (MABA) appears to be promising but requires additional data
regarding correlation with clinical outcome. The correlation between the susceptibility by MABA and
clinical outcomes was studied. There were 123 specimens obtained from extra-pulmonary sites of 108
patients at Ramathibodi Hospital in 1999. The authors found that susceptibility of M. tuberculosis
isolates by the MABA correlated with the clinical outcome; patients with isolates sensitive to iso
niazid, rifampicin, and ethambutol had a better clinical outcome than patients with isolates resistant
to at least one of these drugs (p=0.004). Studies to determine this correlation in pulmonary tuber
culosis are still needed.
Keywords : Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Tuberculosis, Susceptibility, Correlation, Clinical Outcome
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