Acknowledgements This study was supported by a grant from the Ger

Acknowledgements This study was supported by a grant from the German ministry of education (BMBF), project no. UZB 08/002. We thank BAG Health Care GmbH for the provision of consumables, chemicals and instrumentation. AmplexDiagnostics GmbH provided hyplex® TBC tests and hyplex® Prep RG7420 mw columns

free of charge. Special thanks A-1210477 price go to Dr. G. Heinz and Dr. L. Wassill for their great input in the planning of the study and for the critical reading of the manuscript. We also thank I. Bachmann, H. Beutler and S. Söllner for their excellent technical assistance. References 1. World Health Organisation: WHO REPORT 2007. Global tuberculosis control. Surveillance, planning, financing. WHO, Geneva; 2007. 2. World Health Organization: Anti-tuberculosis drug resistance in the world. Report no. 4. In WHO/HTM/TB/2008.394. WHO, Geneva; 2008. 3. American Thoracic Society C: Diagnostic standards and classification of tuberculosis in adults and children. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2000, 161:1376–1395. 4. CDC: Updated guidelines for the use of nucleic acid amplification tests in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2009, 58:7–10. 5. Moore DF, Guzman JA, Mikhail LT: Reduction in turnaround time for laboratory diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis

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