Quantiferon in the Diagnosis of Tuberculosis

Abstract

Quantiferon test (QFT) is an indirect diagnostic test for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection and active TB.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to investigate the role of Quantiferon-TB Gold test as one of the interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) in detecting LTBI.

Research Methodology: This study was conducted at private lab in Tripoli during the period from October 2022 to January 2023, Diagnosis of 254 sample recorded. QFT was performed in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions.

Results: The study include (n= 254 cases), (58 sample 22.8 %) show positive results by Quantiferon test while (196 sample 77.1%) show negative test. Females constituted 118 (46.4%) of the total cases, while the males constituted 136 (53.6%). the age (31-40 years) for the negative include (35 cases 13.7%) while (41-50 years and (61-70 years) for positive include (11cases 4.3%).

Discussion: This study confirmed previous reports that the QFT test had greater sensitivity for detecting active TB than the 100-year-old TST.

Conclusion: It was concluded that the quantiferon TB-2G test is a more useful diagnostic method for tuberculosis infection. QFT-Plus assay showed good sensitivity for active TB and was particularly useful for the evaluation of children with suspected LTBI, giving a low rate of indeterminate results in this group. More studies are needed to properly evaluate QFT-Plus ability in discriminating active disease from latent infection.