scholarly journals Latent Tuberculosis Infection among a Large Cohort of Medical Students at a Teaching Hospital in Italy

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Durando ◽  
Cristiano Alicino ◽  
Andrea Orsi ◽  
Ilaria Barberis ◽  
Chiara Paganino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Medical Students ◽  
Teaching Hospital ◽  
Latent Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Latent Tuberculosis ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Large Cohort ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Interferon Gamma Release Assay ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Professional Exposure

The surveillance of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) in both healthcare workers and healthcare students is considered fundamental for tuberculosis (TB) prevention. The aim of the present study was to estimate LTBI prevalence and evaluate potential risk-factors associated with this condition in a large cohort of medical students in Italy. In a cross-sectional study, performed between March and December 2012, 1511 eligible subjects attending the Medical School of the University of Genoa, trained at the IRCCS San Martino-IST Teaching Hospital of Genoa, were actively called to undergo the tuberculin skin test (TST). All the TST positive cases were confirmed with an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). A standardized questionnaire was collected for multivariate risk analysis. A total of 1302 (86.2%) students underwent TST testing and completed the questionnaire. Eleven subjects (0.8%) resulted TST positive and LTBI diagnosis was confirmed in 2 (0.1%) cases. Professional exposure to active TB patients (OR 21.7, 95% CI 2.9–160.2;Pvalue 0.003) and previous BCG immunization (OR 28.3, 95% CI 3.0–265.1;Pvalue 0.003) are independently associated with TST positivity. Despite the low prevalence of LTBI among Italian medical students, an occupational risk of TB infection still exists in countries with low circulation ofMycobacterium tuberculosis.

scholarly journals Gender Disparities in Latent Tuberculosis Infection in High-Risk Individuals: A Cross-Sectional Study

PLoS ONE ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. e110104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen-Ying Ting ◽  
Shiang-Fen Huang ◽  
Ming-Che Lee ◽  
Yung-Yang Lin ◽  
Yu-Chin Lee ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Latent Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Latent Tuberculosis ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Gender Disparities ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Sectional Study ◽  
Cross Sectional

scholarly journals Prevalence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection as measured by the QuantiFERON-TB Gold assay and ESAT-6 free IGRA among adolescents in Mwanza, Tanzania

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. e0252808
Author(s):  
Kidola Jeremiah ◽  
Eric Lyimo ◽  
Christian Ritz ◽  
George PrayGod ◽  
Kathryn Tucker Rutkowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Latent Tuberculosis ◽  
Target Population ◽  
Cross Sectional Study ◽  
Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Interferon Gamma Release Assay ◽  
Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Infection ◽  
Government Schools ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Force Of Infection ◽  
Ltbi Prevalence

Background The prevalence of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is vastly higher than that of tuberculosis (TB) disease and this enormous reservoir of individuals with LTBI impacts the global TB control strategy. Adolescents are at greatest risk of TB infection and are thus an ideal target population for a potential effective TB vaccine to be added to the current BCG programme as it could reduce the number of latent infections and consequently the number of adults with TB disease. However, LTBI rates are often unknown for this population. This study aims to estimate the magnitude of LTBI and to determine if Tanzanian adolescents would be a good population for a prevention of TB infection trial. Methods This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that recruited 193 adolescents aged 12 and 16 years from government schools and directly from the community in Mwanza Region, Tanzania. Socio-demographic characteristics were collected for all enrolled participants. Blood was drawn and tested using QuantiFERON-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT), and Early Secretory Antigenic Target-6–Free Interferon-gamma Release Assay (ESAT-6 free IGRA). Concordance between QFT-GIT and ESAT-6 free IGRA was evaluated using the McNemar’s test. Results Overall estimates of LTBI prevalence were 19.2% [95%CI, 14.1; 25.2] and 18.6% [95%CI, 13.6; 24.6] as measured by QFT-GIT IGRA and ESAT-6 free IGRA, respectively. The 16-year-old cohort had a higher LTBI prevalence (23.7% [95%CI, 16.1; 32.9]) as compared to 12-year-old cohort (14.6% [95%CI, 8.6; 22.7]) as measured by QFT-GIT IGRA. When measured by ESAT-6 Free IGRA, LTBI prevalence was 24.7% (95%CI, 16.9; 34.0) for the 16-year-old cohort and 12.5% (95%CI, 7.0; 20.3) among the 12-year-old cohort. According to both tests the prevalence of TB infection and the corresponding annual risk of tuberculosis infection (ARTI) and force of infection were high and increased with age. Of all enrolled participants, 97.4% had concordant results for QFT-GIT IGRA and ESAT-6 free IGRA (p = 0.65). Conclusions The prevalence of LTBI and the associated ARTI and force of infection among adolescents is high and increases with age in Mwanza Region. There was a high concordance between the QFT-GIT and the novel ESAT-6 free IGRA assays. These findings suggest Mwanza is a promising area to conduct novel TB vaccine research prevention of infection (POI) studies targeting adolescents.

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