Current guidelines advocate screening hemodialysis patients for latent tuberculosis infection; however, the tuberculin skin test (TST) is believed to be insensitive in this population. This study compared the diagnostic utility of the TST with that of an IFN-gamma assay (T-SPOT.TB) and the clinical consensus of an expert physician panel. A total of 203 patients with ESRD were evaluated for late...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection alters macrophage gene expression and macrophage response to IFN-γ, a critical host defense cytokine. However, regulation of these changes is poorly understood. We report discordance of changes in nascent transcript and total nuclear RNA abundance for the transcription factors STAT1 and IRF1, together with lack of effect on their RNA half-lives, in human THP...

Increased susceptibility to tuberculosis following HIV-1 seroconversion contributes significantly to the tuberculosis epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Lung-specific mechanisms underlying the interaction between HIV-1 and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection are incompletely understood. Here we address these questions by examining the effect of HIV-1 and latent M. tuberculosis co-infection on the...

Сonsider the modern concept of understanding latent tuberculosis infection. To conduct this review, 64 literature sources were analyzed using electronic databases medical publications, mainly PubMed.About a quarter world's population is infected with M. tuberculosis. Most those are able to contain tuberculosis, that is, they in state infection without any manifestations active disease. At prese...

Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection presents across a spectrum in humans, from latent infection to active tuberculosis. Among those with latent tuberculosis, it is now recognized that there is also a spectrum of infection and this likely contributes to the variable risk of reactivation tuberculosis. Here, functional imaging with 18F-fluorodeoxygluose positron emission tomography and computed t...

BACKGROUND Currently available tools cannot be used to distinguish between sub-species of the M. tuberculosis complex causing latent tuberculosis (TB) infection. M. africanum causes up to half of TB in West- Africa and its relatively lower progression to disease suggests the presence of a large reservoir of latent infection relative to M. tuberculosis. METHODS We assessed the immunogenicity o...

Regulation of specific immune responses following exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans and the role of regulatory T (Treg) cells in the immune control of latent infection with M. tuberculosis are incompletely understood. Latent infection was assayed by an interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) in healthcare workers regularly exposed to tuberculosis (TB) patients and in household TB conta...

BACKGROUND Although tuberculosis (TB) is a minor problem in Denmark, severe and complicated cases occur in HIV positive. Since the new M. tuberculosis specific test for latent TB, the QuantiFERON-TB In-Tube test (QFT-IT) became available the patients in our clinic have been screened for the presence of latent TB using the QFT-IT test. We here report the results from the first patients screened....

INTRODUCTION Jailed populations exhibit high rates of tuberculosis (TB) infection and active disease. METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed to estimate the prevalence of latent and active TB and to identify factors associated with latent infection in inmates. RESULTS The prevalence of latent TB was 49%, and the prevalence of active TB was 0.4%. The presence of a Bacille Calmette-Gué...

References 1 Pai M, Denkinger CM, Kik SV, et al. Gamma interferon release assays for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Clin Microbiol Rev 2014; 27: 3–20. 2 Diel R, Goletti D, Ferrara G, et al. Interferon-γ release assays for the diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Eur Respir J 2011; 37: 88–99. 3 Sester M, van Leth F, ...