An assessment of nucleic acid amplification testing for active mycobacterial infection

Publication type
Randomised trials, cohort studies, case series or systematic reviews of these study designs
Search period	1990 – May 2014 or inception of the database, if later than 1990
Language	Non-English language articles were excluded unless they provided a higher level of evidence than the English language articles identified

Safety of NAAT

No studies were identified that reported on the safety of NAAT (plus AFB microscopy and/or culture) compared with current testing (AFB microscopy, tissue biopsy and/or culture). As NAAT is usually conducted on the same samples used for other testing, no AEs were expected.

To date, NAAT has been widely used without any safety concerns. However, more patients will receive a false-positive NAAT than a false-positive AFB result. Therefore, more patients will receive treatment for a disease they do not have and will possibly have an adverse reaction to the anti-TB drugs until clinical unresponsiveness is noted or culture results become available.