Agreement between TST and QuantiFERON-TB gold plus in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection among exposed health care workers at a Malaysian teaching hospital

Meor Jamaludin, Wan Husna Barakah and Sulong, Anita and Abdul Samat, Muttaqillah Najihan and Salleh, Sharifah Azura and Ban, Andrea Yu Lin (2022) Agreement between TST and QuantiFERON-TB gold plus in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection among exposed health care workers at a Malaysian teaching hospital. Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine, 22 (Suppl. 2). p. 136. ISSN 1675-0306 E-ISSN 2590-3829

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Abstract

Incidence rates of tuberculosis (TB) infection among health care workers (HCWs) were always higher compared to the general population. The tuberculin skin test (TST), which was used to screen tuberculosis contact among HCWs has low specificity due to cross reaction with Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination or nontuberculosis mycobacterium infection. QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) offered higher specificity since it used specific antigens to stimulate the production of interferon-gamma in the serum. QFT-Plus could help narrow down the treatment group for latent tuberculosis infection among HCWs. To determine the agreement between TST and QFT-Plus in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection among exposed health care workers in Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz. Between January and December 2020, 417 HCWs were screened for TB close contact, 157 had positive TST and 260 had negative TST results. HCWs from both TST groups were selected using a convenient sampling method, and QFT-Plus testing was performed on 107 consented HCWs. From 107 consented HCWs, 21 (19.6%) had positive QFT-Plus. Among the positive QFT-Plus participants, 14 (66.7%) had positive TST, and 7 (33.3%) had negative TST. Meanwhile, among 86 (80.4%) HCWs had negative QFT-Plus, 35 (40.7%) had positive TST, and 51 (59.3%) had negative TST. There was poor agreement between the tests (kappa = 0.163). Poor agreement between TST and QFT-Plus in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection among exposed HCWs.

Item Type:	Article (other)
Subjects:	R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine R Medicine > RA Public aspects of medicine > RA643 Communicable Diseases and Public Health R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC582 Specialities of Internal Medicine- Immunologic Diseases R Medicine > RC Internal medicine > RC731 Specialties of Internal Medicine-Diseases of The Respiratory System
Kulliyyahs/Centres/Divisions/Institutes (Can select more than one option. Press CONTROL button):	Kulliyyah of Medicine
Depositing User:	Dr. Wan Husna Barakah Meor Jamaludin
Date Deposited:	16 Aug 2023 17:06
Last Modified:	22 Aug 2023 09:23
URI:	http://irep.iium.edu.my/id/eprint/106018

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