Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
-
Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2015
Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical TrialInterferon-γ release assay vs. tuberculin skin test for tuberculosis screening in exposed healthcare workers: a longitudinal multicenter comparative study.
Healthcare workers (HCWs), especially those caring for patients with tuberculosis (TB), are at high risk of acquiring that disease. The poor specificity of tuberculin skin testing (TST) prompted us to evaluate the effectiveness of the interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) in comparison with TST in a large prospective, multicenter, 1-year study of HCWs with occupational exposure to TB. ⋯ TST and the IGRA yielded discordant results. The value of IGRA in addition to TST remains undetermined; the two should be jointly interpreted in decision-making (clinical trial registration NCT00797836).