Comparative Evaluation of Microscopy and Loop-Mediated  Isothermal Amplification (Lamp) Assay for the Diagnosis of  Tuberculosis

Authors

Ni Njoman Juliasih, Rajesh Kumar Das2 , Ni Made Mertaniasih3 , Prabin Neupane4, , Reny Mareta Sari5

Tuberculosis, Global health problem, LAMP, Diagnostic tool, Microscopy

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the major global health problem which affects millions of people each year. For

the routine diagnosis of TB, microscopic technique is used but it has lower sensitivity and specificity. This

study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of loop mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) over smear

microscopy to detect Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Out of 84 processed samples processed in this study, the

diagnostic tests showed varying results. Using smear microscopy, 16(19.05%) and with the LAMP assay,

17(20.24%) cases were found positive for M. tuberculosis. The sensitivity of the LAMP assay (87.5%) was

greater than that of microscopy (82.35%) while the specificity of both methods was comparable (>95%).

Being more sensitive than microscopy, LAMP assay is more likely to show the positive result and solve

the errors in diagnosis of the TB cases. Thus, LAMP assay can be an important and cost-effective tool for

appropriate and timely diagnosis of TB patients. This can further assist to implement intervention programs

against TB.