The utility of MPB70 antigen in serodiagnosis of Mtuberculosis complex infectionrnand the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for rapid identification of the causative agentrnif cervical lymphadenitis were investigated. The PCR assay was based on detectingrna 506-bp DNA segment belonging to the alpha 32 kDa antigen (85B) common inrnthe genus Mycobacterium, a 984-bp DNA segment belonging to the insertion sequencernIS 6110 specific for the M tuberculosis complex, and a 185-bp pncA gene segmentrnat position 169 allele-specific for genetic differentiation of Mtuberculosis fromrnM bovis. For the ELISA purpose, sera from 25 tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBLN),rn14 non-tuberculous lymphadenitis (NTBLN), 11 pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) patientsrnand 10 healthy control (HC) subjects were tested. For PCR, in 39 clinically diagnosedrntuberculous lymphadenitis patients, fine needle aspirates (FNA) were processedrnand tested. Of these, which 14 were considered as non-tuberculous lymphadenitisrnby fine needle aspirate cytology (FNAC). Of the 39 clinically diagnosed TBLN, 27rn(69%) were positive by ELISA. When this was compared with the assumed goldrnstandard (FNAC), it showed 64% sensitivity, 21% specificity, 49% efficiency, 59%rnpositive predictive value and 25% negative predictive value. With PCR, 29 (74%) ofrn39 were positive, showing 72% sensitivity, 21 % specificity, 54% efficiency, 62% positivernpredictive value and 30% negative predictive value. When it was compared withrnFNAC.Of the 29 PCR positive for genus Mycobacterium and Mtuberculosis complex,rn18(62%) of them were identified as M tuberculosis, 3 (10%) of them were M. bovisrnand 8 8%)of them were found co-amplifying M.tuberculosis and M. bovis. These datarnindicated that both serodiagnosis with MPB70 antigen of the M.tuberculosis complexrnand peR assay are useful for rapid identification of tuberculous lymphadenitis and betterrnmanagement of patients.