Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2007 Jan 23.
Published in final edited form as: N Engl J Med. 2006 Oct 12;355(15):1539–1550. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa055524

Figure 3. Cumulative Percentages of the Time to Culture Positivity for 325 Culture-Positive Samples According to Culture Method (Panel A) and the Effect of the Quantitative Status of Sputum Smears for Acid-Fast Bacilli (Panels B, C, and D).

Figure 3

The percentages of cultures that were positive at days 7, 14, and 21 were 74%, 99%, and 100%, respectively, in MODS culture; 7%, 62%, and 89% in automated mycobacterial culture; and 0%, 5%, and 28% in Löwenstein–Jensen (L-J) culture (Panel A). In Panels B, C, and D, “auramine smear–” was defined by the presence of fewer than 10 acid-fast bacilli per 100 fields, “1+” 10 to 99 acid-fast bacilli per 100 fields, “2+” 1 to 10 acid-fast bacilli per field, and “3+” more than 10 acid-fast bacilli per field. One field was equivalent to the examination of one carbol-fuchsin–stained smear at a magnification of 1000×.