The role of a whole blood interferon-gamma assay for the detection of latent tuberculosis infection in Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccinated children.
The tuberculin skin test (TST) has limitations in children who are under the Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) effect. Our aim was to evaluate the QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-G IT) blood test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children and to compare results with those of the TST. QFT-G IT and TST data were collected from 227 children between 0 and 15 years of age, split into 4 risk groups. Forty-two children were close contacts, 29 were casual contacts, and 65 were controls. The QFT-G IT positivity rates were 19% (8/42), 6.9% (2/29), and 1.5% (1/65), with a significantly higher rate for the close contacts over the controls (P < 0.05). The high specificity of the QFT-G IT assay and the association of positive results with increasing risk of infection in our study suggest it has major benefits over the TST as a screening test for latent infection with M. tuberculosis in BCG-vaccinated children.
Chun
Jin-Kyong
JK
Division of Pediatric Infection and Immunology, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul 120-752, Republic of Korea.
Kim
Chang Ki
CK
Kim
Hyon-Suk
HS
Jung
Ghee Young
GY
Lee
Taek Jin
TJ
Kim
Ki Hwan
KH
Kim
Dong Soo
DS
D001500:BCG Vaccine / Q000276:immunology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D016358:Contact Tracing; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D008297:Male; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology
D001500:BCG Vaccine; D007371:Interferon-gamma