[The comparison of laboratory tests Quantiferon, Tubinferon and Diaskintest in children with tuberculosis infection.]

The study was carried out to compare results of three tests on the basis of antigens CFP-10 and ESAT-6: laboratory tests QuantiFERON (QFT) and Tubinferon (TIF) and intra-cutaneous test with allergen tuberculous recombinant - Diaskintest (DST). Tubinferon is a Russian analog of test QuantiFERON and is based on quantitative analysis of interferon-gamma after incubation of samples of whole blood in the presence of antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT) - tuberculin and recombinant antigens ESAT-6 and САЗ-10. The results QFT, TIF and DST are examined on 63 patients aged from 7 months to 15 years at parallel setup. According complex examination 63 children were divided at three groups: group I - 29 children infected with MBT and without disease; group II - 8 children non-infected with MBT; group III - 26 children with active forms of tuberculosis. It is established that at high rate of coincidence of results of all three tests (68.3%) in particular situations they can react differently, providing thereby additional information. The results of tests QFT and TIF coincide in 74.6% of all cases. The tests in vitro (QFT, TFT) occurred more sensitive under immuno-pathologic conditions in comparison with DST test. The TFT test demonstrated higher sensitivity under infection with MBT (58.6%) as compared with DST (34.5%) and QFT (34.5%) but lesser than in children with tuberculosis: TFT - 61.5%, QFT - 92.3%, DST - 80.8%. The conclusion is made that all three tests provide positive result more often under tuberculosis infection than in case of infected with MBT. The Tubinferon test is recommended to application and especially for children infected with MBT prior development of disease.

[Use of polymerase chain reaction in the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children with diseases of the bronchopulmonary system]. / Ispol'zovanie polimeraznoi tsepnoi reaktsii dlia diagnostiki tuberkuleza u detei s patologiei bronkholegochnoi sistemy.

A comprehensive study was conducted to determine the activity of tuberculous infection in 115 patients who formed 3 groups: 1) patients with primary forms of tuberculosis; 2) those who were infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MBT); and 3) those who were infected with bronchopulmonary diseases. The detection of MBT DNA in the blood by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using a highly sensitive four-primed diagnostic kit established that 80 patients with tuberculosis had positive results and their decrease as the patient had a course of tuberculostatic therapy. The fact that a third of patients from Groups 2 and 3 had highly positive results of PCR required that a preventive course of double therapy be used for 3 to 6 months.

[Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection in children with bronchopulmonary diseases and evaluation of its role in the course of disease]. / Vyiavlenie infitsirovaniiia mikobakteriiami tuberkuleza detei s bronkholegochnoi patologiei i otsenka ego vliianiia na kharakter techeniia zabolevaniia.

Of 190 children under 14 with nonspecific pulmonary diseases (NSPD) 32.4% had lingering pneumonia, 20.9% recurrent bronchitis. 54% of lung disease hospital inpatients had M. tuberculosis. Normergic and hyperergic tuberculin sensitivity was revealed in 85.6 and 14.4% of cases, respectively. 20.5% of the examinees had inverted reactions. Clinical symptoms were slight in 13% of children. The rest had evident disease. The addition of antituberculous drugs to nonspecific therapy in 10.2% of the children has improved treatment outcomes.

[Characteristics of tuberculosis among children (data from a specialized hospital]. / Kharakteristika tyberkuleznoi infektsii u detei (po dannym spetsializirovannogo statsionara).

The results of analysis of 3076 case histories of patients who were studied in a specialized hospital of Leningrad in the period of 1984-1989 made it possible to give the present-day characteristic of tuberculosis infection in children aged up to 14 years. Study was conducted according to the accepted scheme and comprised analysis of a general composition of patients, clinical diagnosis structure, specific features of the different forms of tuberculosis, registration of complications, age, sex and territory factors and results of other investigations. Special emphasis was given to the characteristic of a group of children suffering from tuberculosis. The findings obtained give evidence on the unfavourable changes in the structure of clinical diagnosis of tuberculosis in children during the last five years.