title: Performance of an interferon-gamma release assay for diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection in children.
abstract: Newly developed interferon-gamma release assays have become commercially available to detect tuberculosis (TB) infection in adults. However, little is known about their performance in children. We compared test results between the QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (QFT) and tuberculin skin test (TST) in young children living with pulmonary TB patients in Cambodia. Of 195 children tested with both QFT and TST, the TST-positive rate of 24% was significantly higher than the QFT-positive rate of 17%. The agreement between the test results was considerable (kappa-coefficient 0.63). Positive rates increased from 6% to 32% for QFT and from 15% to 43% for TST, according to the sputum smear grades of the index cases. The presence of Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) scars did not significantly affect the results of TST or QFT in a logistic regression analysis. In conclusion, QFT can be a substitute for TST in detecting latent TB infection in childhood contacts aged <or= 5 years, especially in those who may have a false-positive TST due to BCG vaccination or non-tuberculous mycobacterial infection.
authors.affiliation: Japan International Cooperation Agency/National Tuberculosis Control Project, Phnom Penh, Cambodia. okadak@jata.or.jp
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okada
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Miura
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sugiyama
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yoshiyama
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitarai
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Onozaki
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Harada
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Saint
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.forename: Y M
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Chhour
mesh_terms: D002160:Cambodia; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma