HLA DRB1*02 and its subtypes predispose individuals for a far-advanced sputum-positive pulmonary tuberculosis transcending ethnic boundaries. Mycobacterium bovis BCG does not afford the desired protection against adult pulmonary tuberculosis, and a spectrum of immune reactivity exists in controls and hospital contacts. All of these findings have been identified and demonstrated in areas of ende...

OBJECTIVE Skin disorders constitute a significant proportion of consultations in children's clinics; however, there is a paucity of data on the prevalence of dermatological lesions in hospitalized children in Nigeria. This study determines the prevalence of dermatological lesions in hospitalized children. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this cross-sectional study, 402 children aged three months to t...

OBJECTIVE To estimate the annual risk of infection with tubercle bacilli in the northern zone of India. METHODS A community-based cross-sectional tuberculin survey was conducted among children aged 1-9 years who lived in a sample of villages and urban blocks of six selected districts in a defined north zone of India. A two-stage cluster sampling method was used to select rural and urban clust...

BACKGROUND A modified clinical presentation of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in children vaccinated with BCG has been described in the literature. However, most reports are old and not based on actual comparisons and tests of significance. Also, neuroimaging features were not compared. With large scale BCG coverage, it becomes pertinent to describe the "modified" presentation and identify any si...

OBJECTIVE Cutaneous reaction after BCG revaccination has been cause of concerns due its magnitude. Would it be intense enough to discourage its use in school-age children? The objective of this study is to describe the evolution of BCG vaccination site between 48 hours and 10 weeks post-revaccination. METHODS A descriptive cohort study was carried out involving 484 children between six and 11...

Hemodialysis patients are at increased risk of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) compared with the general population. QuantiFERON-TB Gold (QFT-G) for LTBI detection is more promising than tuberculin skin test (TST) in hemodialysis patients. The aim of this study is to determine whether the QFT-G is more sensitive than the TST in hemodialysis patients in LTBI. Eighty nine hemodialysis patien...

Immune responses to oral vaccines are impaired in populations living in conditions of poverty in developing countries, and there is evidence that concurrent geohelminth infections may contribute to this effect. We vaccinated 48 children living in rural communities in Ecuador with a single oral dose of 100 mg of BCG Moreau RDJ and measured the frequencies of tuberculin-stimulated peripheral bloo...

BACKGROUND The annual risk of Tuberculosis infection (ARTI) is a key indicator in epidemiology, of the extent of transmission in a community. There have been several suggested methods in order to evaluate the prevalence of Tuberculosis infection using tuberculin skin data. This survey estimates the ARTI in young Hellenic air force recruits. The effect of BCG vaccination has also been investigat...

BACKGROUND The tuberculin skin test (TST) is the most commonly used tool to detect infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We sought to determine whether tuberculin skin testing is useful to detect latent infection by M. tuberculosis in a population that was vaccinated with the Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine. METHODS We performed a cross-sectional study during October 2000-February ...

BACKGROUND An interferon-γ release assay, QuantiFERON-TB (QFT) test, has been introduced an alternative test for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI). Here, we compared the performance of QFT with tuberculin skin test (TST) measured at two different cut-off points among primary health care work (HCW) in Brazil. METHODS A cross-sectional study was carried out amo...