Application results of known diagnostic tests and a new test in-vitro (TB-feron) with ESAT6-CFP10 antigenes in children

Introduction. Currently, diagnosis of tuberculosis and latent tuberculosis infection in children remains difficult. The study aimed to compare the results of a skin test with allergen tuberculosis recombinant (ATR), containing ESAT6 and CFP10 proteins, QuantiFERON (QFT) (Qiagen, Germany) and TB-Feron (TBF) (SD Biosensor, Korea). Ma-terials and methods. Two tests (ATR and QFT) were per-formed in parallel on 199 children with various forms of tuberculosis infection, and three tests (ATR, QFT, and TBF) on 24 children. Results. The ATR-test and QFT results co-incided in 164 (82.4%) children. Both tests were positive in 140 (70.4%) patients, both tests were negative in 24 (12.0%). The opposite tests results occurred in 35 (17.6%) children. The ATR-positive/QFT-negative combination was the most frequent — 23 (11.6%), while the ATR-neg-ative/QFT-positive combination was less frequent — 12 (6.0%). Among the patients with the opposite results, young children (40.0%), children living with HIV infection (8.6%), and allergic diseases (37.1%) were more common compared to the patients with the positive results of the two tests, p<0.05. The result of the TB-Feron test showed a match with the ATR-test in 95.8% of cases and with QFT in 91.7%. Conclusion. It was concluded that in difficult diagnostic cases in addition to the ATR-test either Quanti-FERON or TB-Feron can be used.