[Detection of mycobacteria in pathologic material using the radiometric method].

For concurrent detection of mycobacteria by the radiometric method BACTEC and the standard cultivation technique 96 samples of pathological material from patients hospitalized with suspected or confirmed tuberculosis was used. The total number of positive samples was 30, using the BACTEC method only, four samples and using the cultivation method only, 10 samples. The assessed difference was not statistically significant. The mean period of positivity with the BACTEC method was 20.4 days, in cultivations 28.8 days. The higher yield of the cultivation method could be caused by various factors. For the BACTEC system inocula of 0.5 ml were used and one cultivation bottle, for the cultivation inocula 1.0 ml and four test tubes for one sample were used. From five samples, positive only on cultivation, only sporadic colonies were obtained after 42-63 days cultivation and in all instances only on one of four media.