Cetyl-Pyridinium Chloride Is Useful for Isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from Sputa Subjected to Long-Term Storage

Recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputa treated with cetyl-pyridinium chloride (CPC) and stored for 20 9 days was significantly higher than that from sputa that were untreated and processed by the N-acetyl-L-cisteine–NaOH method. Addition of CPC is useful for isolation of M. tuberculosis from sputa subjected to long-term storage received from remote areas of the world. Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of the major public health problems worldwide, with 95 % of cases and 98 % of deaths occurring in developing countries (9). The transportation of sputa for culture for Mycobacterium tuberculosis from these countries to laboratories located abroad usually takes more than one week and results in an increased contamination rate and a loss of positive cultures. This is due to several factors, including inadequacy of refrigeration and a lack of preservative addition. In previous studies, cetyl-pyridinium chloride (CPC), a sub-stance known to kill pathogenic fungi from sputum specimen