BACKGROUND Studies examining the transmission of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) strains have yielded conflicting results. METHODS We examined transmission of MDR-TB strains using contact tracing data from a low incidence setting. Contacts of MDR-TB cases diagnosed in British Columbia, Canada, from 1990-2008 were identified through a provincial tuberculosis (TB) registry. Tuberculin...

BACKGROUND Migrant farmworkers are among the highest-risk populations for latent TB infection (LTBI) in the United States with numerous barriers to healthcare access and increased vulnerability to infectious diseases. LTBI is usually diagnosed on the border using the tuberculin skin test (TST). QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) also measures immune response against specific Mycobacterium tu...

BACKGROUND Interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) are more specific than the tuberculin skin test (TST) for the diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Data on sensitivity are controversial in HIV infection. METHODS IGRA (T-SPOT.TB) was performed using lymphocytes stored within 6 months before culture-confirmed tuberculosis was diagnosed in HIV-infected individuals in the Swiss HIV...

INTRODUCTION In France, pre-employment screening for tuberculosis (TB) is performed for healthcare workers (HCW). Screening is repeated when exposure to TB patients or infectious material occurs. The results of these TB screenings were analysed in a retrospective analysis. METHOD Tuberculin skin tests (TST) and interferon-gamma release assays (QuantiFERON® Gold In-Tube - QFT) were used to per...

OBJECTIVE To compare the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold (QFT-G) assay and tuberculin skin test (TST) in screening/diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) among individuals in Trinidad & Tobago at high risk for TB. METHODS A total of 560 individuals (TB patient contacts, HIV patients, health care workers, prison inmates, and TB patients [controls]) were recruited for the study. Blood was drawn...

We give a necessary and sufficient condition in order that a typeshifting automorphism be constructed on a model of the Theory of Simple Types (TST) by forcing. Namely it is proved that, if for every n ≥ 1 there is a model of TST in the ground model M of ZFC that contains an n-extendible coherent pair, then there is a generic extension M [G] of M that contains a model of TST with a type-shiftin...

Introduction: Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is a bacterium found on the skin and hair of people and animals. S. aureus could product some extracellular protein. Materials and methods: One hundred and fifty S. aureus isolates that were collected from different resources were screened for the mecA, tst-1, eta and etb genes by PCR. 50 isolates were selected from human staphylococcal isolates ...

SETTING The tuberculin skin test (TST) is widely used as a diagnostic or screening test for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and disease. A peri-urban shantytown in the desert hills of south Lima, Peru, highly endemic for tuberculosis, and where bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine had been given in multiple doses until 1995. OBJECTIVE To analyze the effect of multiple BCG vaccines on TS...

The present study aimed to determine what proportion of children who are in close contact with immigrant tuberculosis (TB) patients are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. For 1.5 yrs, 14 municipal health services in The Netherlands collected data from all non-Dutch TB patients and their contacts. Close contacts aged < 16 yrs received a tuberculin skin test (TST). A positive TST was defin...

The T-SPOT.TB test does not cross-react with Bacille Calmette-Guérin or most non-tuberculosis mycobacterium species, and is based on IFN-gamma responses to Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific antigens. The objective of this study was to compare tuberculin skin test (TST) with T-SPOT.TB results used in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis (TB) as well as latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). A t...