{"doi":"10.1128/jcm.00019-24","title":"Diagnostic accuracy of tongue swab testing on two automated tuberculosis diagnostic platforms, Cepheid Xpert MTB/RIF Ultra and Molbio Truenat MTB Ultima","abstract":"DNA on tongue swabs stored in buffer, with 72% sensitivity and 100% specificity relative to a sputum microbiological reference standard (sputum MRS). The present study evaluated a more convenient sample collection protocol (dry swab storage), combined with streamlined sample processing protocols, for evaluating two commercial TB diagnostic tests: Xpert Ultra and Molbio Truenat MTB Ultima (MTB Ultima). Copan FLOQSwabs were self-collected or collected by study workers from 321 participants in Western Cape, South Africa. All participants had symptoms suggestive of TB, and 245 of them had sputum MRS-confirmed TB (by sputum MGIT culture and/or Xpert Ultra). One tongue swab per participant was tested on Xpert Ultra, and another tongue swab was tested with MTB Ultima. Xpert Ultra was 75.5% sensitive and 100% specific relative to sputum MRS, similar to previous methods that used swabs stored in buffer. MTB Ultima was 71.6% sensitive and 96.9% specific relative to sputum MRS. When sample lysates that were false-negative or invalid by MTB Ultima were frozen, thawed, and re-tested, MTB Ultima sensitivity rose to 79.1%. Both tests were more sensitive with swabs from participants with higher sputum Xpert Ultra semi-quantitative results. Although additional development could improve diagnostic accuracy, these results further support tongue swabs as easy-to-collect samples for TB testing. IMPORTANCE: Tongue dorsum swabbing is a promising alternative to sputum collection for tuberculosis (TB) testing. Our results lend further support for tongue swabs as exceptionally easy-to-collect samples for high-throughput TB testing.","journal":"Journal of Clinical Microbiology","year":2024,"id":420217,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":35,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.9491,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2024-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":404663,"name":"Angelique Kany Kany Luabeya","orcid":"0000-0001-7379-2836","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1173737,"name":"Rane B. Dragovich","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":787868,"name":"Alaina M. Olson","orcid":"0000-0003-2384-5025","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1058132,"name":"Katherine A. Lochner","orcid":"0000-0003-4498-6433","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":404661,"name":"Kris M. Weigel","orcid":"0000-0003-3199-2148","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1058863,"name":"Renée Codsi","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":252308,"name":"Humphrey Mulenga","orcid":"0000-0002-2030-0751","position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":523478,"name":"Margaretha de Vos","orcid":"0000-0003-3059-2986","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":884313,"name":"Mikashmi Kohli","orcid":"0000-0002-7402-5791","position":9,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":252288,"name":"Adam Penn‐Nicholson","orcid":"0000-0002-1883-0059","position":10,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":231909,"name":"Mark Hatherill","orcid":"0000-0003-3491-1809","position":11,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":404665,"name":"Gerard A. Cangelosi","orcid":"0000-0003-0006-6520","position":12,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":404662,"name":"Rachel C. Wood","orcid":"0009-0006-3931-8595","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":28,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T01:57:25.777459Z","pmid":"38483169","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}