Objective: A prospective study was conducted to ascertain the accuracy of oral swab specimens collected in the early morning, spot and at night for detecting pulmonary tuberculosis (TB).
Methods: We prospectively enrolled patients with symptoms suggestive of pulmonary TB in Beijing Chest Hospital. An early morning sputum specimen was collected from each patient for GeneXpert MTB/RIF (Xpert) and mycobacterial culture. In addition, three oral swabs were collected for TB-LAMP testing.
Results: With the combined results of three oral swab specimens, the proportion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis  (MTB)-positive cases achieved 40.6%, which was comparable to results for Xpert and MGIT (P =0.603). Using Xpert plus MGIT as reference, the sensitivity of OS-LAMP on a single specimen ranged from 32.6% on the night oral swab to 50.0% on the morning swab. The combination of three oral swab specimens correctly identified 38 MTB-positive cases, indicating an overall sensitivity of 82.6%, which was significantly higher than that of a single oral swab specimen (P < 0.001, P =0.001).
Conclusion: Oral swab can be used as an alternative specimen for diagnosis of pulmonary TB using TB-LAMP. Morning oral swab exhibits the highest sensitivity, and the inclusion of more specimens at different time points provides compensation in diagnostic sensitivity with single oral swab.
Keywords: diagnosis, oral swab, TB-LAMP, pulmonary tuberculosis, China