PMID- 23488465
OWN - NLM
STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130318
LR  - 20140731
IS  - 1753-0059 (Print)
IS  - 1753-0059 (Linking)
VI  - 3
IP  - 3
DP  - 2009 May
TI  - Interferon gamma release assays for diagnosing active and latent tuberculosis.
PG  - 303-12
LID - 10.1517/17530050902758738 [doi]
AB  - BACKGROUND: In view of the continuing global epidemic of tuberculosis (TB), 
      adequate diagnosis is crucial for controlling this disease. Two commercial 
      interferon gamma release assays (IGRA) have become available: the QuantiFERON-TB 
      (QFT) and the T-SPOT.TB (TSPOT). They offer an important new tool for detecting 
      both latent and active TB. In particular, the increased specificity as compared 
      with the tuberculin skin test (TST) has resulted in many now (considering) 
      replacing TST with IGRA. OBJECTIVE: This review tries to offer the reader more 
      insight from a clinical perspective into the applicability of IGRA for both 
      latent and active TB. CONCLUSION: Although both IGRA are based on the same 
      principle, they have marked different performance characteristics and it seems 
      likely that both assays will establish their own niche. The increased specificity 
      and sensitivity of IGRA in various settings as compared with TST show us that 
      IGRA are here to stay. QFT might be the preferred tool for large-scale contact 
      tracing, but in most clinical settings TSPOT has to be preferred. Much knowledge 
      on IGRA has already been obtained in a short time; however, many questions remain 
      unresolved, such as likelihood for developing active TB in individuals with a 
      negative IGRA in contact tracing in various subgroups and the applicability of 
      IGRA for detecting active TB.
FAU - Thijsen, Steven Ft
AU  - Thijsen SF
AD  - Medical Microbiologist, Department of Medical Microbiology, Diakonessenhuis, 
      Bosboomstraat 1, 3582 KE Utrecht, The Netherlands sthijsen@diakhuis.nl.
FAU - Bossink, Ailko Wj
AU  - Bossink AW
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20090408
PL  - England
TA  - Expert Opin Med Diagn
JT  - Expert opinion on medical diagnostics
JID - 101392201
EDAT- 2009/05/01 00:00
MHDA- 2009/05/01 00:01
CRDT- 2013/03/16 06:00
PHST- 2013/03/16 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2009/05/01 00:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2009/05/01 00:01 [medline]
AID - 10.1517/17530050902758738 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Expert Opin Med Diagn. 2009 May;3(3):303-12. doi: 10.1517/17530050902758738. Epub 
      2009 Apr 8.