The Mycobacteria Growth Indicator Tube (BBL MGIT 960) is a Middlebrooks 7H9 broth-based culture method, with an oxygen-sensitive fluorescent sensor to indicate microbial growth. The principal advantages of the MGIT system over the BACTEC 460 system include no need for needle inoculation, and therefore better biosafety, and reduced opportunity for cross-contamination of cultures, no radioisotopes, and the option for manual culture examination using an ultraviolet light, rather than with a special (expensive) instrument. Its limitations include higher (non-mycobacterial) contamination rates than solid culture methods and reduced performance when blood is present in the specimen