The aim of this work was to determine the minimum infective dose of Mycobacterium bovis necessary to stimulate specific immune responses and generate pathology in cattle. Four groups of calves (20 animals) were infected by the intratracheal route with 1,000, 100, 10, or 1 CFU of M. bovis. Specific immune responses (gamma interferon [IFN-gamma] and interleukin-4 [IL-4] responses) to mycobacteria...

In industrialized countries, tuberculosis (TB) cases are concentrated among immigrants and driven by reactivation of imported latent TB infection (LTBI). We examined mechanisms used to screen immigrants for TB and LTBI by sending an anonymous, 18-point questionnaire to 31 member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Twenty-nine (93.5%) of 31 responded; 25 (86....

INTRODUCTION Tuberculous (TB) synovitis is a rare, treatable, potentially lethal form of extrapulmonary TB resulting from massive lymphohematogenous dissemination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). We presented a case of TB synovitis of the knee in a Caucasian HIV-negative man from Romania, a high TB incidence country. CASE REPORT A 65-year old man presented with cough, high fev...

Background: Appropriate diagnosis and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) play the most important role in the control of tuberculosis. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of LTBI among healthy tuberculosis unexposed children vaccinated with BCG using the tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) and comparing the agreement between the two tests....

Screening for active tuberculosis (TB) and latent TB infection (LTBI) is mandatory prior to the initiation of tumour necrosis factor-alpha inhibitor therapy. However, no agreement exists on the best strategy for detecting LTBI in this population. The aim of the present study was to analyse the performance of the tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold in-tube (QFT-GIT) on LTBI detect...

LETTER (ONLINE ONLY) Correction for “Parameters that influence the prediction of epidemiological benefits of more-effective tuberculosis vaccines, drugs, and diagnosis,” by Janakiraman Vani, Mohan S. Maddur, Sébastien Lacroix-Desmazes, Srini V. Kaveri, and Jagadeesh Bayry, which appeared in issue 46, November 17, 2009, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (106:E129; first published October 26, 2009; 10.10...

LETTER (ONLINE ONLY) Correction for “Parameters that influence the prediction of epidemiological benefits of more-effective tuberculosis vaccines, drugs, and diagnosis,” by Janakiraman Vani, Mohan S. Maddur, Sébastien Lacroix-Desmazes, Srini V. Kaveri, and Jagadeesh Bayry, which appeared in issue 46, November 17, 2009, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (106:E129; first published October 26, 2009; 10.10...

LETTER (ONLINE ONLY) Correction for “Parameters that influence the prediction of epidemiological benefits of more-effective tuberculosis vaccines, drugs, and diagnosis,” by Janakiraman Vani, Mohan S. Maddur, Sébastien Lacroix-Desmazes, Srini V. Kaveri, and Jagadeesh Bayry, which appeared in issue 46, November 17, 2009, of Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (106:E129; first published October 26, 2009; 10.10...