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Assay bested skin test in screening for TB
BALTIMORE — Compared with a traditional tuberculin skin test, an interferon-gamma release assay was less expensive, provided better accuracy and was a reliable alternative for screening health care workers and patients for tuberculosis, according to a poster here.
“Our facility encountered difficulties in maintaining accuracy and compliance with the employee TB surveillance program,” according to Teresa B. Bricker, RN, BSN, of Russell County Hospital in Kentucky. For this reason, Bricker and colleagues conducted a cost-benefit analysis of an employee TB screening program that assessed the use of an interferon-gamma release assay as an alternative to TB skin testing.
The annual cost for the skin test was approximately $12,600 compared with $9,900 for the assay. The hospital, therefore, approved the use of assays as the screening tool of choice in April 2010.
After implementation of the assay, researchers found that 9% of employees who previously received a positive result with a skin test tested negative for TB with the assay vs. 3% of employees with a positive skin test who also received a positive assay and 3% of employees with a prior negative skin test who had a positive assay with no known recent exposures to active TB disease, according to the study. However, the researchers said assays “cannot distinguish between active TB disease and latent tuberculosis infection; as such, those with a new positive assay were required to obtain further medical evaluation.”
“The use of [assays] for screening [health care workers] for TB is more accurate, cost-effective and has improved compliance,” Bricker told Infectious Disease News. – by Ashley DeNyse
For more information:
- Bricker TB. #4-024. Presented at: the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology’s (APIC) 38th Annual Educational Conference and International Meeting; June 27-29, 2011; Baltimore.
Disclosure: Bricker reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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