Implementation of a telediagnostic system for tuberculosis and determination of multi-drug resistance based in the MODS method in Trujillo, Peru

• Main Authors: Luis Rodríguez, Alicia Alva, Jorge Coronel, Luz Caviedes, Alberto Mendoza-Ticona, Robert Gilman, Patricia Sheen, Mirko Zimic
• Format: Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Instituto Nacional de Salud 2014-09-01
• Series: Revista Peruana de Medicina Experimental y Salud Pública
• Subjects: insuficiencia multiorgánica; mycobacterium tuberculosis; tuberculosis resistente a múltiples medicamentos
• Online Access: https://rpmesp.ins.gob.pe/index.php/rpmesp/article/view/79

Objectives. To implement a system for remote diagnosis of tuberculosis and multidrug resistance (MDR) using the Microscopic-Observation Drug Susceptibility Assay (MODS) method in the Mycobacteria Laboratory, Trujillo Center of Excellence in Tuberculosis (CENEX-Trujillo). The system included a variant of an algorithm for recognition of Mycobacterium tuberculosis recently reported from digital images of MODS cultures of sputum samples. Materials and methods. The recognition algorithm was optimized using a retraining statistical model based on digital images of MODS cultures from CENEX-Trujillo. Images of 50 positive MODS cultures of patients with suspected multidrug-resistant tuberculosis were obtained between January and October 2012 in the CENEX-Trujillo. Results. The sensitivity and specificity to recognize strings of tuberculosis were 92.04% and 94.93% respectively using objects. The sensitivity and specificity to determine a positive tuberculosis field were 95.4% and 98.07% respectively using pictures. Conclusions. The results demonstrated the feasibility of the implementation of telediagnostics in remote locations, which may contribute to the early detection of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis by MODS method.