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Tuberculosis in children with special reference to the clinical significance of graduated intracutaneous tuberculin reactions
Author(s) -
WITH TORBEN K.
Publication year - 1937
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1937.tb16608.x
Subject(s) - medicine , tuberculin , tuberculosis , tuberculous meningitis , clinical significance , surgery , pediatrics , dermatology , pathology
Summary.1) A review is given of the literature concerning the clinical significance of quantitative intracutaneous tuberculin tests as well as of the literature concerning the significance of the different reaction‐types of the intracutaneous tuberculin test. 2) Upon a series of 116 tuberculous children graduated intracutaneous tests were performed with doses from 1/1 to 1 milligramme and the proportion between redness and infiltration in the reactions studied. 3) The sensibility is found to be greatest in primary tuberculosis (the threshold value most often 1/100 mg or lesser), somewhat lower in pleuritis paratuberculosa (threshold 1/100 or 1/10 mg), still lower in healed primary tuberculosis (most often 1 or 1/10 but in some cases 1/100 mg) and lowest in the cases of meningitis and miliar tuberculosis (in all the cases the threshold value 1/10 mg or larger). 4) The graduated intracutaneous test is therefore a diagnostic aid of value in every‐day clinical work in a childrens department. 5) In many cases the tests were performed several times during the disease as well as half to one year after the discharge of the patients from the hospital. In only a few cases variations in sensibility were demonstrated during the disease, but by re‐testing half to one year later it was demonstrated that the sensibility generally had considerably decreased. 6) The relation between redness and infiltration in our series bore no constant proportion to the age of the infection; a predominance of redness was found only in a small proportion of the recent primary infections.