Discordant tuberculin skin and interferon-gamma tests during contact investigations: a dilemma for tuberculosis controllers

作者：O'Neal S^*; Hedberg K; Markum A; Schafer S

来源：International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, 2009, 13(5): 662-664.

• interferon gamma assay
• tuberculosis
• epidemiology
• contact investigation

Current recommendations conflict over the appropriate use of interferon-gamma whole blood assays to screen for tuberculosis (TB) infection in contact Investigations. We report here on a worksite TB contact investigation in which tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON (R)-TB Gold (QFT-G) were both used to identify infection among 61 co-workers. Of the 27 (44%) who had a TST >= 15 min, 11 (41%) had negative QFT-G, raising concerns that QFT-G may not be sufficiently sensitive when used alone in contact investigations. The questionable performance of QFT-G in this setting is not unexpected, as the negative predictive value of a test decreases with increasing prevalence.

• 出版日期2009-5