Tuberculosis Diagnostics

• Diagnostic algorithms should start with appropriate screening policies to identify persons at risk.
• Recommended diagnostics are not mutually exclusive and should be combined based on country epidemiology, the existing laboratory network (see Figure 1), and available resources.
• Implementation of any recommended diagnostic requires all core laboratory components to be in place 
• Culture-based, drug susceptibility testing (DST) is accurate and reproducible for detection of resistance to
isoniazid and rifampicin, i.e. multidrug-resistant (MDR-TB) and fluoroquinolones and second-line injectable drugs, i.e. extensively drug-resistant (XDR) TB. For other drugs DST is problematic and the clinical relevance of results are unclear.