P31

Tuberculosis is the second leading cause of death due to infectious disease globally, with an estimated 10 million people developing the disease annually. Central Tuberculosis Laboratory currently uses MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and MGIT TBc identification test (TBcID) to detect M. tuberculosis complex (MTC) in solid and liquid media respectively. As the Capilia TB-Neo can be used to detect MTC in solid and liquid media, we evaluated its performance with the aim of streamlining our workflow.

Among 15 solid cultures, Capilia TB-Neo was positive in 7 MTC cultures and negative in 8 nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) cultures that were identified by MALDI-TOF. Among 33 liquid cultures, Capilia TB-Neo was positive in 17 MTC cultures and negative in 14 NTM cultures that were identified using TBcID. There were 2 MTC liquid cultures that were negative on TBcID and Capilia TB-Neo - these were subsequently identified as M. bovis BCG by the GenoType MTBC test. Out of 10 non-mycobacterial liquid cultures, 7 were negative on Capilia TB-Neo and weak positive on TBcID, whereas 3 were positive on both Capilia TB-Neo and TBcID.

The Capilia TB-Neo had an overall sensitivity of 92.3% (24/26), specificity of 90.6% (29/32), PPV of 88.9% (24/27) and NPV of 93.5% (29/31). Capilia TB-Neo can be considered as an alternative test for identifying MTC in solid and liquid media as it is a simpler and less time-consuming procedure compared to the MALDI-TOF in addition to being non-inferior to the TBcID.