Interferon- Release Assays Improve the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis and Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Disease in Children in a Country with a Low Incidence of Tuberculosis

Abstract

Background. Diagnosis of childhood tuberculosis (TB) is challenging. The widely used tuberculin skin test (TST) may produce -positive results because of cross-reactivity with nontuberculous mycobacteria or bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination, resulting in unnecessary treatment. Two recently developed interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) show good diagnostic accuracy for active TB in adults; pediatric data are limited, particularly in areas with a low incidence of TB. We assessed the diagnostic accuracy of IGRAs for TB in children in an area with a low incidence of TB.