COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF CONVENTIONAL METHODS WITH CATRIDGE BASED PCR METHOD IN THE DIAGNOSIS OF PAEDIATRIC TUBERCULOSIS

Background: Tuberculosis is a great menace to mankind since ancient times. The genus mycobacterium was known to originate 150 million years ago. Despite the discovery of many newer methods in the diagnosis of tuberculosis, a robust point of care test is required for effective management of Paediatric tuberculosis. Methodology: We conducted this study in paediatrics department of N.M.C.H for 1 year. After obtaining written informed consent, we enrolled cases in our study. All cases were subjected for focussed history from Guardians. Gastric Aspirate, Sputum, Induced Sputum, Ascitic fluid, CSF were collected is a wide mouthed container for sputum microscopy & in Falcons tube for CBNAAT. The microscopic examination of the samples were done by LED microscope using Z-N staining Technique. Results: Out of 51 samples analysed by microscopy and CBNAAT, CBNAAT has higher positivity rate (17.6%) than microscopy technique (5.8%). Result analysed using chi square test, considering CBNAAT as gold standard. The resulting value (p=0.027) interprets that the p value is less than 0.05. It is statistically significant. Conclusion: This work was done to find out ideal diagnostic methods for diagnosis of tuberculosis among children. Among the methods which were used for the diagnosis of paediatric tuberculosis CBNAAT was advantageous.