Quantification of Airborne Mycobacterium tuberculosis in Health Care Setting Using Real-Time qPCR Coupled to an Air-Sampling Filter Method

Figures & data

Table 1 Tuberculosis patients characteristics and airborne M. tuberculosis concentrations

Date sampled	Patient/sex/age, (year)	Δ P ^a : pa	Temp. ^b (°C)	RH% ^c	ACH ^d	Therapy initiation	Culture ^e	Smear ^f	Real-time qPCR (copies/m^3)	Real-time qPCR (CFU/M^3)
2003/11/6	A/26/M	14.0	23.6	71.3	9.1	2003/11/3	++	−	5.88× 10^2	2.32
2003/11/6	B/67/M	14.0	23.2	71.2	9.1	2003/10/8	+++	++++ +	1.20 × 10^3	4.75
2003/11/13		13.0	20.2	67.6	9.1		++	+++	1.36 × 10^4	53.8
2003/11/20		15.0	22.5	69.4	9.1		++	++++	1.21 × 10^4	48
2003/12/4		18.0	20.1	70.2	9.9		++	+++	1.24× 10^3	4.90
2003/12/11		8.0	20.6	77.8	9.3			++	5.21× 10^3	20.6
2003/12/18		8.0	18.4	63.0	9.12		++	++	1.72× 10^3	6.79
2003/11/6	C/74/M	8.0	23.7	74.9	8.8	2003/10/31	++	+++	2.07× 10^3	8.16
2003/11/13		8.0	20.3	65.7	9.1		++	+++	2.40× 10^3	9.48
2003/11/20		8.0	26.0	61.5	8.9		+	++	2.20× 10^3	8.71
2003/12/4		11.0	19.5	71.7	9.0		+	−	7.79× 10^2	3.08
2003/12/11		13.7	20.8	74.9	8.9		−	+	3.19× 10^2	1.26
2003/12/18		13.7	19.0	60.2	8.6		+	+	5.70× 10^2	2.25
2003/11/13	D/74/M	9.8	21.4	61.8	10.1	2003/11/11	++	+	1.74× 10^3	6.86
2003/11/20		15.7	23.7	71.2	10.4		++	+	1.78× 10^5	703
2003/12/4		8.8	23.4	72.5	10.6		++	++++	2.06 × 10^5	814
2003/12/11		8.8	21.0	74.0	10.0		++	+;	1.24 × 10^3	4.88
2003/12/18		6.9	18.9	59.8	10.4		++	+	5.58 × 10^2	2.21
2003/12/4	E/50/F	7.8	20.3	68.3	9.1	2003/11/19	+	+	8.55 × 10^2	3.38
2003/12/11	F/53M	12.0	20.7	75.3	16.2	2003/12/4	+	−	6.52 × 10^2	2.58
2003/12/18		12.0	18.5	60.8	16.4		−	−	1.43 × 10^1	0.06

Figure 1 Calibration curve of known M. tuberculosis DNA concentrations and threshold cycle (Ct) by real-time qPCR assay.

Figure 2 (a) Correlation between airborne M. tuberculosis levels and sputum smear results. −, No colony growth; +, < 50 CFU/plate; ++, 50–100 CFU/plate; +++, 100–200 CFU/plate. (b). Correlation between airborne M. tuberculosis levels and sputum culture results. +, 1–3 per slide; ++, 1–9 per 10 field; +++, 1–9 per field; ++++.