Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T21:25:54.501Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

False-Positive Tuberculin Skin Test Results Among Low-Risk Healthcare Workers Following Implementation of Fifty-Dose Vials of Purified Protein Derivative

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2018

Jeffrey M. Collins ,
Mary Hunter ,
Wanda Gordon ,
Russell R. Kempker ,
Henry M. Blumberg  and
Susan M. Ray
Jeffrey M. Collins*
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia
Mary Hunter
Affiliation:
Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia Division of General Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia.
Wanda Gordon
Affiliation:
Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia
Russell R. Kempker
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia
Henry M. Blumberg
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia
Susan M. Ray
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia Grady Health System, Atlanta, Georgia
*
Address correspondence to Jeffrey M. Collins, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, 49 Jesse Hill Jr Drive, Atlanta, GA 30303 ([email protected]).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Following large declines in tuberculosis transmission the United States, large-scale screening programs targeting low-risk healthcare workers are increasingly a source of false-positive results. We report a large cluster of presumed false-positive tuberculin skin test results in healthcare workers following a change to 50-dose vials of Tubersol tuberculin.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:750–752

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 39 , Issue 6 , June 2018 , pp. 750 - 752
Copyright
© 2018 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Jensen, PA, Lambert, LA, Iademarco, MF, Ridzon, R. Guidelines for preventing the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in health-care settings, 2005. MMWR Recomm Rep 2005;54:1–141.Google Scholar
2. Lambert, LA, Pratt, RH, Armstrong, LR, Haddad, MB. Tuberculosis among healthcare workers, United States, 1995–2007. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2012;33:1126–1132.Google Scholar
3. Blumberg, HM, Ernst, JD. The challenge of latent TB infection. JAMA 2016;316:931–933.Google Scholar
4. Lewinsohn, DM, Leonard, MK, LoBue, PA, et al. Official American Thoracic Society/Infectious Diseases Society of America/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Clinical Practice guidelines: diagnosis of tuberculosis in adults and children. Clin Infect Dis 2017;64:111–115.Google Scholar
5. Ruffino-Netto, A, Kritski, AL, Teixeira, EG, Dos Santos-Loredo, CC, De Souza, DN, Trajman, A. Influence of vial size on the results of the tuberculin test. J Bras Pneumol 2005;31:144–148.Google Scholar
6. Landi, S, Held, HR, Hauschild, AH, Hilsheimer, R. Adsorption of tuberculin PPD to glass and plastic surfaces. Bull World Health Organ 1966;35:593–602.Google Scholar
7. Held, HR, Landi, S. Loss of preservative from a tuberculin solution in rubber stoppered vials fastened with different seals. J Biol Stand 1985;13:211–219.Google Scholar
8. Blumberg, HM, Watkins, DL, Berschling, JD, et al. Preventing the nosocomial transmission of tuberculosis. Ann Intern Med 1995;122:658–663.Google Scholar
9. Yuen, CM, Kammerer, JS, Marks, K, Navin, TR, France, AM. Recent transmission of tuberculosis—United States, 2011–2014. PloS One 2016;11:e0153728.Google Scholar
10. Mullie, GA, Schwartzman, K, Zwerling, A, N’Diaye, DS. Revisiting annual screening for latent tuberculosis infection in healthcare workers: a cost-effectiveness analysis. BMC Med 2017;15:104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed