Introduction: Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is an important cause of sepsis in individuals with HIV and they often die within 18 days of presentation. Thus, there is an urgent need to rapidly detect the presence of MTB bacteremia.
Objective: To demonstrate the potential usefulness of a ‘collection-to-detection’ system for rapid qPCR detection of MTB in blood and organ tissue specimens transported in molecular medium to a distant lab.
Methods: A total of 39 blood and tissue specimens were collected from mice (n=6) given intraperitoneally either anti-MTB monoclonal antibodies (MABS) or PBS, and challenged 24 hours later with an intravenous injection of 105 ethanol-killed MTB. Whole blood and tissue specimens were transported to a distant laboratory for qPCR analysis.
Results: MTB was detected by qPCR in both blood and tissues transported over 1000 miles at ambient temperature within 6 hours of arrival. Differential MTB clearance was observed using two anti-MTB opsonic MABs.
Conclusion: This study supports the usefulness of transporting blood and tissue to a centralized or regional laboratory for expedient diagnosis of MTB bacteremia in high risk patients.