Molecular genetic tests GeneXpert MTB/RIF and Xpert MTB/RIF (Ultra) in the diagnosis of tuberculosis (review of literature).

In recent tuberculosis years is the main cause of morbidity and death among patients with HIV infection. Modern diagnostics of tuberculosis includes mass screening of the population: digital fluorography from the age of 15 and immunodiagnostics in children and adolescents. Detection of mycobacterium tuberculosis by microscopy occurs in forms of tuberculosis with the decay of lung tissue. Such patients represent a high epidemic risk. To improve the verification of diagnosis in the practice of a phthisiologist, molecular genetic methods for the search for mycobacteria are increasingly used, based on the identification of specific fragments of the DNA chain in the diagnostic material. The most widely used method is the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which is based on directed DNA amplification. The latest innovation is fully automated systems using cartridge technology GeneXpert. The advantages of GeneXpert are high sensitivity, speed (result in 2 hours), real-time PCR detection, exclusion of sample contamination. The technique of cartridge technology is constantly being improved, various cartridges are used on its platform, which not only detect M. tuberculosis, but also determine the sensitivity to anti-tuberculosis drugs - rifampicin (MTB / RIF cartridge) or several anti-TB drugs (MTB / XDR). Cartridges have been developed that are able to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) at an even lower concentration in the test material - MTB / RIF (Ultra). GeneXpert technology can be used to diagnose extrapulmonary tuberculosis by examining various biological materials, which are more effective in detecting tuberculosis in children and adolescents, in HIV-positive individuals.