Abstract
BackgroundLatent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) rate is usually high in contacts with infectious TB patients. In TB-prevalent country, however, background LTBI rate is already high in general population. AimTo compare the LTBI rate between controls and recognized close contacts. MethodBetween February 2010 and January 2014, 183 controls and 376 contacts with TB infection were enrolled. The tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) were used to diagnose LTBI. ResultsHigher TST positivity was found in the control group than in the contact group (37.7% vs. 29.9%, P = 0.073). The positive QFT-GIT rate was higher in contacts than in controls (32.6% vs. 24.1%, P = 0.054). A significantly higher positive QFT-GIT rate was found in contacts under 30 years of age than in controls (16.1% vs. 0%, P = 0.005). ConclusionIn a TB-prevalent country, both TST and QFT-GIT were limited in the diagnosis of recent LTBI in adult contacts probably due to the high background LTBI rate. However, QFT-GIT seems to be better than TST in differentiating LTBI status in contacts younger than 30 year old.
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