• Ozlem Kandemir, Bahar Uluba, Gürbüz Polat, Canan Sezer, Handan Camdeviren, and Ali Kaya.
• Department of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Disease, Faculty of Medicine, Mersin University, Mersin, Turkey. kandemirege@hotmail.com
• Arch. Med. Res. 2003 Jul 1; 34 (4): 311-4.

BackgroundSeveral studies have shown that serum procalcitonin levels increase conspicuously in acute and systemic inflammatory diseases. However, there is insufficient information concerning its activity in chronic infectious diseases such as tuberculosis. In this study, we aimed to assess serum level of procalcitonin in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis and in medical staff at high risk due to close patient contact (high-risk staff).MethodsFor this purpose, 30 patients (6 female, 24 male) and 20 staff (8 female, 12 male) were evaluated. Twenty eight healthy blood donors (9 female, 19 male) made up the control group.ResultsSerum procalcitonin level in patients with tuberculosis was 0.76 +/- 0.20 ng/mL. Procalcitonin levels in active tuberculosis patients and staff were not significantly different (p=0.381); however, differences between active tuberculosis patients and control group were significant (p<0.001). In addition, serum procalcitonin levels were also different in staff and control groups (p<0.001).ConclusionsThis study showed that procalcitonin levels increased both in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and in the staff. This result considered that procalcitonin could be a good indicator of inflammation in patients with chronic diseases and in persons exposed to long-lasting infections.

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