SETTING: Health centres in Awassa, southern Ethiopia. DESIGN: Consecutive patients
visiting health centre laboratories for the evaluation of suspected pulmonary tuberculosis
(TB) between June and September 2006 were investigated. On-the-spot, morning and
second on-the-spot sputum samples were pooled for each patient. Direct smears were
stained with hot Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN) technique and aliquots cultured for mycobacteria on
Löwenstein-Jensen media. The remaining sputum was treated with household bleach …

… The authors thank the Bushullo and Awassa Health Centre, AHRI TB laboratory and the
SNNPR Health Bureau for invaluable assistance. The study was funded from the core
budget of AHRI (NORAD and Sida grant) and the Addis Ababa University. … To determine
the performance of bleach treated smears followed by short-term digestion, overnight
sedimentation and centrifugation compared to direct smears using culture as gold standard …
• The samples were pooled and direct smears were examined after ZN staining and aliquots …