The Timing of Tuberculin Tests in Relation to Immunization With Live Viral Vaccines

Abstract

The validity of the recommendation that routine screening for tuberculosis precede the administration of live viral vaccines was tested in a field study. One hundred and ten children already known to be tuberculin-positive, mostly on the basis of prior vaccination with BCG, were immunized with live viral vaccine and retested with tuberculin at the same time. Reversion to a negative tine test occurred in 3% of children given measles, mumps, or rubella vaccine, and 3.6% of controls who received no vaccine but had the tuberculin test repeated at the same interval. Very few Mantoux reactions (two of 68) reverted to negative in children given one of the three vaccines, singly or in combination; some became smaller, but there was no significant difference in the changes in the size of the Mantoux reaction between the vaccinated group and the control group, with the exception of an unexplained increase in the size of the reaction in many of those who received rubella vaccine. Screening for tuberculosis by tine or Mantoux test is not invalidated by simultaneous administration of vaccines against measles, mumps, or rubella, given singly or in combination, as part of preventive care programs.