Table 3.

Time to positivity (TTP) in days by liquid MGIT vs solid LJ culture methods (n = 138).

Smear result	n	MGIT	LJ
		Mean ± SD	Mean ± SD
4+	28	7.3 ± 2.7	21.9 ± 4.6
3+	24	9.0 ± 4.2	25.9 ± 5.2
2+	25	12.5 ± 4.4	30.2 ± 8.0
1+	13	15.5 ± 4.9	33.4 ± 9.9
All smear +ve	90	10.4 ± 4.9	26.9 ± 7.8
Smear negative	48	20.2 ± 6.5	37.3 ± 9.1
All smears	138	13.8 ± 7.2	30.5 ± 9.1

p value <0.0001, 95% confidence interval for all grades of smears.