Skip to main content
Home / The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, Volume 21, Number 4

Novel interferon-gamma assays for diagnosing tuberculosis in young children in India

Buy Article:

$34.78 + tax (Refund Policy)

SETTING: The tuberculin skin test (TST) and interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) are used as supportive evidence to diagnose active tuberculosis (TB). Novel IGRAs could improve diagnosis, but data are lacking in young children.

DESIGN: Children (age 5 years) with suspected TB were prospectively screened at a tertiary hospital in Pune, India; the children underwent TST, and standard (early secretory antigenic target 6 and culture filtrate protein 10) and enhanced (five additional novel antigens) enzyme-linked immunospot (ELISpot) assays.

RESULTS: Of 313 children (median age 30 months) enrolled, 92% had received bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination, 53% were malnourished and 9% were coinfected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV); 48 (15%) had TB, 128 (41%) did not, and TB could not be ruled out in 137 (44%). The sensitivity of enhanced (45%) and standard (42%) ELISpot assays for diagnosing TB was better than that of TST (20%) (P  0.03); however, enhanced ELISpot was not more sensitive than the standard ELISpot assay (P = 0.50). The specificity of enhanced ELISpot, standard ELISpot and TST was respectively 82% (95%CI 74–89), 88% (95%CI 81–94) and 98% (95%CI 93–100). Rv3879c and Rv3615c, previously reported to be promising antigens, failed to improve the diagnostic performance of the ELISpot assay.

CONCLUSION: The TST and the standard and novel ELISpot assays performed poorly in diagnosing active TB among young children in India.

Keywords: ELISpot; IGRA; India; Rv3615c; Rv3879c; TB; TST; children

Document Type: Research Article

Affiliations: 1: National AIDS Research Institute, Pune, India 2: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA 3: Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College, Pune, India 4: Department of Pediatrics, Center for Tuberculosis Research, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA 5: Imperial College, London, UK 6: Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Government Medical College, Pune, India 7: Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Publication date: 01 April 2017

More about this publication?

  • The International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease (IJTLD) is for clinical research and epidemiological studies on lung health, including articles on TB, TB-HIV and respiratory diseases such as COVID-19, asthma, COPD, child lung health and the hazards of tobacco and air pollution. Individuals and institutes can subscribe to the IJTLD online or in print – simply email us at [email protected] for details.

    The IJTLD is dedicated to understanding lung disease and to the dissemination of knowledge leading to better lung health. To allow us to share scientific research as rapidly as possible, the IJTLD is fast-tracking the publication of certain articles as preprints prior to their publication. Read fast-track articles.

  • Editorial Board
  • Information for Authors
  • Subscribe to this Title
  • International Journal of Tuberculosis and Lung Disease
  • Public Health Action
  • Ingenta Connect is not responsible for the content or availability of external websites

Share Content

  • Access Key
  • Free content
  • Partial Free content
  • New content
  • Open access content
  • Partial Open access content
  • Subscribed content
  • Partial Subscribed content
  • Free trial content