Utilization of bacteriological culture for increased diagnostic performance at a tuberculosis reference center hospital.

The purpose of this study was to assess the increase in positive results of bacteriological diagnostic tests for tuberculosis with the utilization of culture at a referral hospital for tuberculosis (TB). A retrospective analysis was conducted based on the positive bacteriological results obtained at the Júlia Kubistchek Hospital. The number of bacteriological diagnoses was increased by 24.6 % with the utilization of culture of sputum samples and by 56.1% of bronchoalveolar lavage samples. With regard to pleural fluid, all six positive cultures were negative for bacilloscopy. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was isolated in 59.6 % of positive cultures. Since mycobacterial culture was not undertaken for all clinical samples, this procedure is an important laboratory routine at the Júlia Kubistchek Hospital in order to learn the real TB prevalence.