Possibilities of quantiferon test in detection of latent tb infection

Surkova L.K., Strinovich A.L., Budnik O.A., Bahtina A.D.

Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Pulmonology and Phthisiology, Minsk, Belarus

Objective: to determine the capabilities of the quantiferon test in detecting latent tuberculosis infection in patients with comorbid pathology.
Materials and methods. A retrospective analysis of the quantiferon test results was carried out in 420 patients with suspected tuberculosis or with a hyperergic Mantoux or Diaskintest reaction using the QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus test system (Qiagen, Germany).
Results. Different levels of tuberculosis infection were established in different age groups of patients with comorbid pathology, with a higher infection rate at a young age – 21.42%. The shift of tuberculosis infection to an older age group (61-70 years) was determined – 16.32%. Latent tuberculosis infection was significantly more often detected in patients with comorbid pathology compared to healthy individuals (59.0% and 32.78%, respectively, χ2=8.45, p=0.004).
Conclusion. The data obtained confirms the assumption of a high level of latent tuberculosis infection in patients with comorbid pathology.