Biological Evidence 2018, Vol.8, No.1, 1-5
1
Research Report Open Access
Effect of Bleach on the Diagnosis of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
E.J. Uhunmwangho
1
, A.O. Iyamu
2
, B.O. Eledo
3, 4
, S.C. Izah
5
1 Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo state, Nigeria
2 Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo state, Nigeria
3 Department of Medical Laboratory Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, Madonna University, Elele, Nigeria
4 Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Federal Medical Centre, Yenagoa Bayelsa State Nigeria
5 Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Science, Niger Delta University, Wilberforce Island, Bayelsa state, Nigeria
Corresponding author email:
Biological Evidence, 2018, Vol.8, No.1 doi:
10.5376/be.2018.08.0001
Received: 05 Mar., 2018
Accepted: 26 Mar., 2018
Published: 04 Apr., 2018
Copyright © 2018
Uhunmwangho et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
Uhunmwangho E.J., Iyamu A.O., Eledo B.O., and Izah S.C., 2018, Effect of bleach on the diagnosis of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
, Biological Evidence,
8(1): 1-5 (doi:
10.5376/be.2018.08.0001
)
Abstract
Direct smears microscopy for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) is one of the easily applied laboratory techniques for diagnosis of
tuberculosis in most medical laboratories especially in developing countries. Bleach microscopy techniques has been assessed in
different settings as a potential alternative for the diagnosis of tuberculosis. This study investigated the effect of bleach on the
diagnosis of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
in a hospital (Direct Observation Therapy centre in Central Hospital, Benin City, Edo State,
Nigeria). Sixty (60) sputum samples were collected from individuals that showed symptom of tuberculosis which comprises of new
and follow up cases among patients with age >15 regardless of gender. The sputa samples were analyzed by two techniques using
direct smear microscopy and bleach commonly used in household. Result revealed that of the 60 sputum samples 32 (representing
53.3%) were positive to AFB (for direct microscopy techniques) and 32 were also positive to AFB when household bleach techniques
were applied. Of the 32 positive result, 7 (21.9%) smears graded as + when direct microscopy techniques were applied appeared
scanty and 10 (31.3%) graded as ++ were decreased to +. Furthermore, 15 (46.9%) smears graded as +++ decreased to ++. The
bleach technique for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis improves the field view. Hence there is need for more research on
the use of bleach for the detection of
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
.
Keywords
Bleach; Diagnosis;
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
; Microscopy
Background
Tuberculosis is a major communicable disease that can be transmitted though close contact with infected patient
(Etim and Briyai, 2017; 2018). Inhalation of droplet nuclei aerosolized (Okorie et al., 2016; Jaleta et al., 2017)
through coughing, sneezing and spitting of an infected patient is the major spread measure (Etim and Briyai,
2017). Tuberculosis is caused by a bacteria agent called
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
(Okorie et al., 2016; Etim
and Briyai, 2017; 2018). Tuberculosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality globally (Raviglione et al.,
2012; Zhao et al., 2012; Range et al., 2012; Desikan, 2013; Bhuju et al., 2013; Nasiri et al., 2014; WHO, 2017;
Etim and Briyai, 2017, 2018). WHO (2017) reported that tuberculosis is among the 10
th
leading cause of death in
the world. Desikan (2013) reported that about 2 billion people are infected with tuberculosis causing about 2
million deaths per year. The author further reported about 8.8 million incident cases of tuberculosis occurred in
2010, which is equivalent to about 178 cases per 100,000 populations. Furthermore, WHO (2017) reported that
10.4 million contacted tuberculosis in 2015 causing about 1.8 million death. This further shows that global
prevalence of tuberculosis appears to be on the increase (Etim and Briyai, 2018).
Tuberculosis pandemic is intense in low and middle income countries. According to WHO (2017), Etim and Briyai
(2017), about 60% of global tuberculosis cases occur in Nigeria, China, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Indonesia.
Generally tuberculosis affects all age grade (children, adolescent and adult) irrespective of sex (Etim and Briyai,
2017). Tuberculosis are known to occur with other diseases such as HIV (Anochei et al., 2013; Oluwaseun et al.,
2013; Abiodun et al., 2015; Okorie et al., 2016; WHO, 2017;
Etim and Briyai, 2018). Cases of multi drug
resistance tuberculosis have been severally reported in literature (Traore et al., 2000; Nwachukwu and Peter, 2010;
Bazira et al., 2011; Dinic et al., 2012; Aliyu et al., 2013; Ryu, 2015; Sani et al., 2015; Abiodun et al., 2015; Okorie
