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Abstract Despite dramatic improvements in tuberculosis control, M. tuberculosis remains the most common cause of pulmonary and other forms of mycobacterial infections all over the world. As the incidence of tuberculosis decreases, the relative incidence of disease caused by mycobacteria other than M. tuberculosis increases. Isolation and identification of tubercle bacilli is an essential part of the investigation of tuberculosis, culture gives a more rapid result than animal inoculation and is more economic. Moreover by culture we can detect as few as 10-100 organisms/ml of sputum while by smear at least 4 10 organisms/ml must be present to get positive result. So culture was considered as the method of choice. |