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Two-Step Tuberculin Skin Testing in School-Going Adolescents with Initial 0-4 Millimeter Responses in a High Tuberculosis Prevalence Setting in South India
BACKGROUND: The utility of two-step tuberculin skin testing among adolescents in high tuberculosis prevalence settings is not well established. OBJECTIVES: To determine the proportion and determinants of a 0-4 mm response to an initial standard tuberculin skin test (TST) and evaluating 'boostin...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2013
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3765300/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24039716 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071470 |
Sumario: | BACKGROUND: The utility of two-step tuberculin skin testing among adolescents in high tuberculosis prevalence settings is not well established. OBJECTIVES: To determine the proportion and determinants of a 0-4 mm response to an initial standard tuberculin skin test (TST) and evaluating 'boosting' with repeat testing. METHODS: Adolescents between 11 and 18 years attending schools/colleges underwent a TST; those with a response of between 0–4 mm had a repeat TST 1-4 weeks later. RESULTS: Initial TST was done for 6608/6643 participants; 1257 (19%) developed a 0-4 mm response to the initial TST. Younger age and under-nutrition were more likely to be associated with a 0-4 mm response, while the presence of BCG (Bacillus Calmette Guerin) scar and higher socio-economic class were less likely to be associated with a 0-4 mm response. On repeat testing boosting was seen in 13.2% (145/1098; ≥ 6 mm over the initial test) while 4.3% showed boosting using a more conservative cutoff of a repeat TST ≥ 10 mm with an increment of at least 6 mm (47/1098). History of exposure to a tuberculosis (TB) case was associated with enhanced response. CONCLUSION: The proportion of adolescents who demonstrated boosting on two-step TST testing in our study was relatively low. As a result repeat testing did not greatly alter the prevalence of TST positivity. However, the two-step TST helps identify individuals who can potentially boost their immune response to a second test, and thus, prevents them from being misclassified as those with newly acquired infection, or tuberculin converters. While two-step tuberculin skin testing may have a limited role in population- level TST surveys, it may be useful where serial tuberculin testing needs to be performed to distinguish those who show an enhanced response or boosters from those who indeed have a new infection, or converters. |
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