Abstract

MACHADO, Paula Corrêa et al. Comparison of tuberculin test and interferon-gamma release assay for diagnosing latent tuberculosis in Community Health Workers, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 2012. Epidemiol. Serv. Saúde [online]. 2014, vol.23, n.4, pp.675-681. ISSN 1679-4974.

OBJECTIVE: to compare the ability to detect latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among community health workers using the tuberculin skin test (TST) and Interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). METHODS: this was a cross-sectional study conducted in Santa Cruz do Sul-RS, Brazil, applying TST and IGRA to 47 community health workers between March and June 2012. TST was considered positive when induration was ≥10mm. IGRA was considered positive when interferon-gama concentration was at least 0.35 IU/mL. RESULTS: 12 community health workers presented positive TST and 6 had positive IGRA, the agreement between the tets was considered poor (κ=0.063). CONCLUSION: despite the limited number of samples there is a high discrepancy between the tests, what emphasize the need for more studies to find a biological explanation for these differences and to examine the cost-benefit of using IGRA.

Keywords : Latent Tuberculosis; Health Personnel; Cross-sectional Studies, Tuberculin Test.

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