Abstract
Indonesia is one of the high burden tuberculosis (TB) countries. The utilization of molecular diagnostic has been setting over the country, however there are still a lot of remote areas that only depend on microscopic smear. Bleach might be used to increase the value of microscopy diagnos- tic. The study aimed to evaluate the added value of 1% bleach to increase the positivity rate of TB compared to conventional stain. This study was conducted on 70 subjects who were suspected as TB from various pri- mary care centers in West Java and Banten, Indonesia. The sputum was 2-3 mL, and divided into two parts, both of them were stained using Ziehl-Neelsen (ZN), however the first was only stained and the second added 1% bleach. Bleach was added in same volume with sputum and incubated for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, the spu- tum was stained with ZN. The positivity rate for ZN only was 39 (55.7%) compared to 1% bleach was 63 (90%), and significant- ly different (P=0.000) using Mann-Whitney U test. Bleach can be used as an alternative agent to improve the TB smear in setting that only depends on microscopy diagnostic.