BACKGROUND Repeat tuberculin skin tests may be false positive due to boosting of waned immunity to past mycobacterial exposure. We evaluated whether an ELISPOT test could identify tuberculosis (TB) contacts with boosting of immunity to non-tuberculous mycobacterial exposure. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We conducted tuberculin and ELISPOT tests in 1665 TB contacts: 799 were tuberculin test ...

T HE TUBERCULIN TEST IS THE MOST effective means for detecting tuberculous infection, and hence is an essential tool in ultimate eradication of the disease. In clinical practice it has been generally accepted that a positive tuberculin skin reaction indicates the possibility of tuberculosis, whereas a negative reaction, with few exceptions, rules out a tuberculous infection. Since the advent of...

background: tuberculosis (tb) remains an important health problem throughout the world. despite its significance in public health, mechanisms of protective immunity against mycobacyerium tuberculosis in humans have not yet been understood. objective: to evaluate cell mediated immune response against purified ag 85, ppd and phytohemagglutinin (pha) in patients with tuberculosis and healthy tuber...

it is assumed that about 10% of individuals infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis develop tuberculosis. the rate of tuberculosis in solid organ transplant recipients has been estimated to be 50-fold higher than in the general population. candidates for solid organ transplantation are routinely screened for latent tuberculosis infection (ltbi). in this study we aimed to compare tuberculin ski...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to explore the association between tuberculin reaction size in contacts with positive tuberculin skin test results and a variety of contact and index patient variables. PATIENTS AND METHODS We reviewed the contact investigation records for tuberculosis patients identified by the Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Center of Lleida, Spain, over a period ...

We have previously reported the results of ten years of systematic tuberculin Qsting of kindergarten and first grade children in Kansas City, Missouri. This report adds seven yeas of testing in different age groups (8th and 9th; and 4th and 5th grades). As reported in the previous study, the prevalence rates and conversion rates to tuberculin are markedly different depending on the frequency at...

The immune response induced by vaccination with Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is not fully understood, and the interpretation of the tuberculin skin test (TST) is still under debate. This thesis was based on questions raised while implementing protective measures for healthcare workers and others at risk of exposure to tuberculosis (TB) in Sweden, a country where the prevalence of TB is low. Th...