Use of nucleic acid probes to identify mycobacteria directly from Difco ESP-Myco bottles

Mycobacterial isolates were identified directly from positive ESP-Myco bottles by use of nucleic acid probes. Retrospective analysis of 360 cultures which grew either Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. avium complex, or M. gordonae showed that 87% were identified by direct testing of an aliquot obtained at the time a positive culture was detected. Another 12% of these cultures gave results in the equivocal range, with only 1% of the isolates yielding negative results on initial testing.