Valoarea intradermoreacției la tuberculină după apariția testului quantiferon

Abstract

Since the early 1930s until the early 2000s,the only tool available for the detection of latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) was the tuberculin skin test (TST). Although reactivity to the TST is associated with a well documented lifetime risk of developing active TB, one of the major limitations of the TST is its poor specificity (Sp); false-positive reactions, especially in bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG)-vaccinated populations, lead to potentially unnecessary preventive treatment for alleged LTBI. Since the early 2000s, the development of in vitro blood tests measuring production of interferon (IFN)-γ by T-cells exposed to antigens highly specific to Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been an important advance in the detection of LTBI.