Abstract
This study, carried out in a low tuberculosis (TB) prevalence country with high immigration rates from high TB prevalence countries, deals with the interferon-gamma release assay, QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube, for the diagnosis of latent TB infection (LTBI) in foreign-born children. The results of our study highlight the potential advantages and concerns of using a blood test for diagnosing LTBI in a 'two-step' strategy in foreign-born children.
Highlights
latent TB infection (LTBI) detection relied only on the tuberculin skin test (TST), known to be associated with false-positive results in children infected with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) or bacille CalmetteGuerin (BCG) vaccinated, as is the case with the majority of the children born in high TB incidence countries.[3,4]
We report data on a group of immigrant children evaluated between January 2006 and December 2008
A positive correlation was found between a positive QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube assay (QFT) and the size of TST induration
Summary
LTBI detection relied only on the tuberculin skin test (TST), known to be associated with false-positive results in children infected with nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) or bacille CalmetteGuerin (BCG) vaccinated, as is the case with the majority of the children born in high TB incidence countries.[3,4] TST sensitivity may be impaired in young children, and in several other conditions such as immunosuppression.[5,6] The positive cut-off of the TST indura-tion depends on the likelihood of infection and on the individual risk of developing active TB.[6,7] Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) represent an attractive tool for TB screening due to their high diagnostic accuracy, their performance in paediatric subjects needs corroborating evidence
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