Affiliations: Department of Immunology, Tuberculosis Research Centre
(ICMR), Chetput, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | Department of Statistics, Tuberculosis Research Centre
(ICMR), Chetpet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India | Department of Clinic, Tuberculosis Research Centre
(ICMR), Chetpet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Note: [] Correspondence: Dr. Alamelu Raja, Department of Immunology,
Tuberculosis Research Centre (ICMR), Mayor V.R. Ramanathan Road, Chetput,
Chennai – 600 031, India. Tel.: +91 44 2836 9626; Fax: +91 44 2836 2528;
E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract: We assessed the yield of the QuantiFERON-TB Gold in tube test
(QFT-GIT) and the tuberculin skin test (TST) in healthy persons from our
general population, where tuberculosis is endemic and Bacillus
Calmette-Guérin is mandatory. The yield of QFT-GIT (2% and TST (1%
were very low among children, where the test was positive in 42% and 24% of
adults, respectively. Our study results show that QFT-GIT and TST are not
influenced by prior Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccination. Applying the
reduced cut-off point of 0.13 IU/mL is adequate in a pediatric population.
Moreover, both the TST and the QFT-GIT demonstrated a low yield in the
pediatric population, which suggests that either TST or QFT-GIT alone or in
combination can be used to diagnose Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection
in our setting.
Keywords: Tuberculosis, diagnosis, QuantiFERON-TB Gold in tube, healthy children, endemic population
