Martina Sester, Frank van Leth, Judith Bruchfeld, Dragos Bumbacea, Daniela M Cirillo, Asli Gorek Dilektasli, José Domínguez, Raquel Duarte, Martin Ernst, Fusun Oner Eyuboglu, Irini Gerogianni, Enrico Girardi, Delia Goletti, Jean-Paul Janssens, Inger Julander, Berit Lange, Irene Latorre, Monica Losi, Roumiana Markova, Alberto Matteelli, Heather Milburn, Pernille Ravn, Theresia Scholman, Paola M Soccal, Marina Straub, Dirk Wagner, Timo Wolf, Aslihan Yalcin, Christoph Lange
RATIONALE: In the absence of active tuberculosis, a positive tuberculin skin test (TST) or interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) result defines latent infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, although test results may vary depending on immunodeficiency. OBJECTIVES: This study compared the performance of TST and IGRAs in five different groups of immunocompromised patients, and evaluated their ability to identify those at risk for development of tuberculosis. METHODS: Immunocompromised patients with HIV infection, chronic renal failure, rheumatoid arthritis, solid-organ or stem-cell transplantation, and healthy control subjects were evaluated head-to-head by the TST, QuantiFERON-TB-Gold in-tube test (ELISA), and T-SPOT...
November 15, 2014: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine