Cetyl-pyridinium chloride is useful for isolation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputa subjected to long-term storage.
Recovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from sputa treated with cetyl-pyridinium chloride (CPC) and stored for 20 +/- 9 days was significantly higher than that from sputa that were untreated and processed by the N-acetyl-L-cisteine-NaOH method.