title: Comparative study of RT23 and IC-65 tuberculins tested on children with tuberculosis.
abstract: This study, conducted in 2009, proposed to evaluate and compare the biological potency of two different tuberculins, RT23 (Statens Serum Institute, Copenhagen) and IC-65 (Cantacuzino Institute, Bucharest) when administered to 89 children with confirmed tuberculosis, admitted to Paediatric Department of Pneumophtysiology Institute, Bucharest. Mean age of subjects was 10.4 years [SD (standard deviation) = 5.2 years; variance = 27.2], and sex distribution in the group was: 55.1% girls and 44.9% boys. Tuberculin skin tests were performed using Mantoux method simultaneously with the two tuberculins in the same concentration, 2TU (tuberculin units)/0.1 ml. RT23 skin test reactions ranged from 8 mm to 18 mm (mean = 12.8 mm, SD = 2.1 mm, variance = 4.4; median = 12.0), and IC-65 reactions ranged from 8 mm to 18 mm (mean = 13.1 mm; SD = 2.1 mm; variance = 4.3; median = 13.0). The mean difference in paired reaction sizes for the two reagents was 0.04 mm and was not statistically different from zero (P value = 0.3). The difference in reaction sizes was = 2 mm in 70.8% and = 5 mm in 7.9% patients. With a cutoff of 10 mm to define a positive reaction, the results were highly correlated with a sensitivity of 98.9% for RT23 and 97.8% for IC-65. No statistically significant difference was established for the efficacy of the two commercially available PPD TST reagents, both tuberculins appearing to have equivalent potency.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Research-Development for Microbiology and Immunology "Cantacuzino", Bucharest, Romania.
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ulea
authors.forename: Gheorghe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Murgoci
authors.forename: Mircea Loan
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Popa
authors.forename: Loredana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Popa
authors.forename: Henriette
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Stavri
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014373:Tuberculin / Q000008:administration & dosage; D014374:Tuberculin Test / Q000379:methods*; D014376:Tuberculosis / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D014373:Tuberculin