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Changing the way we diagnose tuberculids with interferon gamma release assays
Author(s) -
Koh Hong Yi,
Tay Liang Kiat,
Pang Shiu Ming,
Ong Beng Hock
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
australasian journal of dermatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.67
H-Index - 53
eISSN - 1440-0960
pISSN - 0004-8380
DOI - 10.1111/j.1440-0960.2011.00791.x
Subject(s) - medicine , tuberculosis , polymerase chain reaction , mycobacterium tuberculosis , tuberculin , interferon gamma release assay , tuberculosis diagnosis , interferon γ , interferon gamma , immunology , pathology , virology , cytokine , gene , biology , latent tuberculosis , biochemistry
Diagnosing tuberculids traditionally requires clinicopathological correlation together with positive tuberculin skin tests (TST) or demonstration of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Interferon gamma release assays (IGRA) are new laboratory tests approved for the diagnosis of MTB infection. We describe three patients with tuberculids who had no other clinical feature of tuberculosis (TB) infection and negative PCR of skin biopsies. Their diagnoses were aided by positive IGRA.