Preemployment screening for tuberculosis in a large health care setting: Comparison of the tuberculin skin test and a whole-blood interferon-γ release assay

Nicole Zitterkopf Khoury, Matthew J. Binnicker, Nancy L. Wengenack, Timothy R. Aksamit, William G. Buchta, Robin G. Molella

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: Determine the performance of an interferon-γ release assay in a health care occupational surveillance program. Methods: From January 11, 2005, through January 31, 2006, all new employees (n = 652) undergoing standard, preemployment evaluation at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota were evaluated for tuberculosis using a standard process of symptom screening combined with tuberculin skin test (TST) and QuantiFERON-TB Gold test (QFT-G). Results: Comparing the results of QFT-G directly to TST, QFTG showed an overall agreement of 92.5%. Conclusions: False-positive TST were themost significant issue affecting agreement, and in a low-tuberculosis prevalence population, the need for an effective strategy offering low falsepositive results may be best met by combining the TST with QFT-G.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)290-293
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of occupational and environmental medicine
Volume53
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2011

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

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