Kinetics of the QuantiFERON((R))-TB Gold In-Tube test during treatment of patients with sputum smear-positive tuberculosis in relation to initial TST result and severity of diseaseShow others and affiliations
2010 (English)In: Scandinavian journal of infectious diseases, ISSN 1651-1980, Vol. 42, no 9, p. 650-657Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Abstract The QuantiFERON((R))-TB Gold In-Tube test (QFN) measures interferon-gamma production in response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens. Our aim was to assess the kinetics of the QFN and initial tuberculin skin test (TST) result in relation to severity of disease in a tuberculosis (TB) endemic area. Smear-positive TB patients (n = 71) were recruited at Gondar University Hospital, Ethiopia. The TST, QFN, CD4+ cell count and clinical symptoms (TB score) were assessed and followed up during treatment. From baseline to 7 months after treatment, there was a significant decrease in QFN reactivity (93.8% to 62.5% in HIV-negative/TB; 70.3% to 33.3% in HIV-positive/TB patients) down to a level comparable to a control group of blood donors (51.2%). The agreement between TST and QFN was poor in TB patients compared to healthy controls. A negative TST correlated to more advanced TB in contrast to a negative QFN test. We conclude that the QFN reactivity is significantly reduced at the end of treatment against active TB to the background level of healthy blood donors, and that the agreement between TST and QFN is poor including correlation to the severity of disease.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2010. Vol. 42, no 9, p. 650-657
National Category
Medical and Health Sciences
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-58804DOI: 10.3109/00365548.2010.482942ISI: 000282716000002PubMedID: 20465490OAI: oai:DiVA.org:liu-58804DiVA, id: diva2:345822
2010-08-272010-08-272013-05-02
In thesis