Diagnostic Value of T SPOT TB in Infant to 5-Year Old Children with Primary Forms of Tuberculosis

IGRA (interferon gamma release assay) testing has marked a new start in the diagnosis of tuberculosis. There is still, however, discrepant evidence in terms of its effectiveness in the early childhood. The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of the new T SPOT TB (ELISPOT TB test) and the TST (tuberculin skin test) in infant children with active tuberculosis. Fifty one (51) children, who were treated at the University Children’s Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases in 2009 were studied. The average age of the children was 2.15 ± 1.39 years. Upon examination with the TST, only 2 children reacted negatively, 45.1% were with size of the infiltrate 6 mm to 14 mm at the 72nd h and 51.0% were with size of the infiltrate larger than 15 mm. Upon examination with the T SPOT TB, 69.6% of the children gave positive results, which was significantly less than the 96.1% positive results, obtained with the TST, and in consistency with the study results of other authors. By using both tests, the high rate of 76.7% of positive results was achieved. The concordance between TST and T SPOT TB was 76.4%. This gives us reason to believe that despite the difficulty of diagnosing tuberculosis in infancy, the use of both tests increases our diagnostic capabilities.