Article ID: JJID.2018.128
Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) was assessed for rapid identification of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTC) in comparison with an immunochromatographic test (ICT) using SD Bioline Ag MPT64 Rapid®. One hundred and fifty-one MGIT cultures positive for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) were tested for MTC. DNA was extracted from a small portion of culture samples by heat lysis and subjected to LAMP analysis. Of these, 1445 were positive and 5 were negative by both tests. One culture that was ICT negative but that was LAMP positive was confirmed to have a mutation in the mpt64 gene. The agreement was 98.68% [95% confidence interval (CI) 94.80-99.77] and the kappa value 0.83% (95%CI (0.59-1.00), respectively. The good correlation result suggested that LAMP assay was a reliable molecular test for rapid identification of MTC. It is practical for use in resource-limited, high burden settings.