title: Preemployment screening for tuberculosis in a large health care setting: comparison of the tuberculin skin test and a whole-blood interferon-γ release assay.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Determine the performance of an interferon-γ release assay in a health care occupational surveillance program.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 11, 2005, through January 31, 2006, all new employees (n = 652) undergoing standard, preemployment evaluation at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota were evaluated for tuberculosis using a standard process of symptom screening combined with tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (QFT-G).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Comparing the results of QFT-G directly to TST, QFT-G showed an overall agreement of 92.5%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  False-positive TST were the most significant issue affecting agreement, and in a low-tuberculosis prevalence population, the need for an effective strategy offering low false-positive results may be best met by combining the TST with QFT-G.
authors.affiliation: Oklahoma State Department of Health Public Health Laboratory, Oklahoma City, OK, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole Zitterkopf
authors.initials: NZ
authors.lastname: Khoury
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Binnicker
authors.forename: Nancy L
authors.initials: NL
authors.lastname: Wengenack
authors.forename: Timothy R
authors.initials: TR
authors.lastname: Aksamit
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Buchta
authors.forename: Robin G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Molella
mesh_terms: D004651:Employment; D006801:Humans; D007371:Interferon-gamma / Q000097:blood*; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D016272:Occupational Health; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014374:Tuberculin Test; D014397:Tuberculosis, Pulmonary / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis*
chemical_list: D007371:Interferon-gamma