Patent ID: 7914982

Claim:
A method for diagnosing a Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in a subject, comprising: a) obtaining a urine sample from a subject; b) separating a soluble fraction of said urine sample; and c) detecting the presence of a cell-free Mycobacterium tuberculosis nucleic acid in said soluble fraction of said urine sample, wherein said nucleic acid is less than about 300 bp in length, wherein said detecting is performed by a method selected from the group consisting of PCR, nested PCR, semi-nested PCR, LCR, and SDA, using a primer set comprising at least one forward primer selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 34, 37 and 39, and at least one reverse primer selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NOs: 35, 36, 38 and 40, wherein the presence of said nucleic acid diagnoses a Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.