Method for identifying bacteria in a sample
AssigneeUniversity of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
InventorLesley Erica Scott
Life of this patent
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Abstract
This invention describes a method for identifying bacteria. In particular, this invention relates to a method for identifying and quantifying mycobacteria from a sputum sample taken from a subject using flow cytometry. Further described is the use of flow cytometry to identify and quantify Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputum-derived samples. Once identified and quantified, the samples are spotted onto filter cards for use in verification of an existing method of diagnosis, calibration of an existing method of diagnosis and/or the establishment of an external quality control system for use in conjunction with these methods of diagnosis. In one embodiment the method is used to diagnose tuberculosis (TB).
Claims8
A method for determining performance of a diagnostic method, the method comprising:
- (i) culturing a sputum sample from a subject, wherein the sputum sample comprises bacteria;
- (ii) inactivating the cultured sputum sample;
- (iii) quantifying the bacteria in the inactivated sample to obtain a first score;
- (iv) spotting the inactivated sample onto an absorbent material;
- (v) quantifying the bacteria in the spotted sample using a diagnostic method to obtain a second score;
- (vi) determining the performance of the diagnostic method based on a comparison between the first score and the second score.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.