Today, tuberculosis (TB) remains a global public health threat associated with significantly high rates of morbidity and mortality. The World Health Organization's (WHO) Global Tuberculosis Report 2018[1] has reported that in 2017, 10.0 million people across the world had developed TB diseases that resulted in an estimated 1.6 million deaths, and 889, 000 people developed TB in China that led to 39, 000 TB-related deaths. Therefore, rapid and accurate detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) is important for initiating early treatment and reducing mortality. Traditional diagnostic methods for pulmonary TB incorporate chest radiography and sputum smear microscopy;however, several cases of tuberculosis go undiagnosed because of the low sensitivity of smear microscopy[2].
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