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ED?T?RE MEKTUP
LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Doi: 10.5578/tt.8279
Tuberk Toraks 2014;62(4):324

Geli? Tarihi/Received: 09.09.2014 • Kabul Edili? Tarihi/Accepted: 16.09.2014

QuantiFERON-TB gold in-tube test ile t?berk?lin cilt testinin kar??la?t?rmas?

Sim Sai TIN1, Viroj WIWANITKIT2

1 Shantou T?p Merkezi, Shantou, ?in

1 Shantou Medical Center, Shantou, China

2 Hainan ?niversitesi T?p Fak?ltesi, Tropikal Hastal?klar, Hakou, ?in

2 Department of Tropical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Hainan University, Hakou, China

We would like to discuss on the publication on "QuantiFERON-TB gold in-tube test with tuberculin skin test (1)." Metin Timur et al. concluded that "as a result of the study it is suggested to confirm positive TST results with tests based on interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) because it can reduce false positive diagnosis and treatment of latent tuberculosis infection (1). "In fact, QuantiFERON-TB gold in-tube test is the new test that is widely mentioned for its usefulness (2,3).? However, it should be noted that the QuantiFERON-TB gold in-tube test is not exactly superior to standard tuberculin skin test. According to a report by? Verhagen et al., it was noted that "replacement of TST by the QFT-GIT for detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection is not recommended in this resource-constrained setting as test results showed substantial concordance and TST positivity was not affected by previous BCG vaccination (4)." Rutherford et al. also noted that "QFT-GIT offers little advantage over the TST (5)".

CONFLICT of INTEREST

None declared.

REFERENCES

  1. Metin Timur ?, Tanir G, ?z FN, Bayhan G?, Aydin Teke T, Tuygun N. Comparison of QuantiFERON-TB gold in-tube test with tuberculin skin test in children who had no contact with active tuberculosis case. Tuberk Toraks? 2014;62:116-21.
  2. Wiwanitkit V. Field QuantiFERON-TB gold test. Am J Infect Control 2011;39:447.
  3. Wiwanitkit V. QuantiFERON-TB gold test versus tuberculin skin test. Ann Thorac Med 2010;5:119.
  4. Verhagen LM, Maes M, Villalba JA, d'Alessandro A, Rodriguez LP, Espa?a MF, et al. Agreement between QuantiFERON?-TB Gold In-Tube and the tuberculin skin test and predictors of positive test results in Warao Amerindian pediatric tuberculosis contacts. BMC Infect Dis 2014;14:383.
  5. Rutherford ME, Nataprawira M, Yulita I, Apriani L, Maharani W, van Crevel R, et al. QuantiFERON?-TB Gold In-Tube assay vs. tuberculin skin test in Indonesian children living with a tuberculosis case. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 2012;16:496-502.

Yaz??ma Adresi (Address for Correspondence)

Dr. Sim Sai TIN

Shantou T?p Merkezi,

SHANTOU - CHINA

e-mail: simsaitin@gmail.com

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