Abstract: Objective  To analyze the smear and culture results of patients from county TB dispensaries.  Methods  A total of 3550 smear positive specimens from 1230 new and retreatment patients recruited in eighteen county TB control institutions according to stratified cluster sampling method from April to December 2007, three specimens for smear and two specimens for culture experiment. The positive rates of smear and culture result among the spot, evening and morning specimens were analyzed and the correlation of smear and culture results were observed.  Results  The positive rates of smear result for morning, spot and evening specimen were 78.8%（917/1164）, 87.0%（1070/1230） and 90.0%（1040/1156）. The positive rates of culture result for morning, spot and evening specimen were 96.9%（504/520）, 97.1%（881/907） and 97.8%（709/725）. The level of smear and culture result in 2147 specimens were analyzed by trend χ² test, we found there was linear trend of correlation between smear and culture results(χ²=206.2, P<0.01).  Conclusion  Smear results can provide some hint for culture results in some extent. If the smear positive level is high,the culture positive level will also high.

Key words: Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Bacteriological techniques, Multicenter study