Abstract
Introduction: It is estimated one third of the world population is infected by mycobacterium tuberculosis (TB) and the risk factor of TB infection is contacting with TB patients.
Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the parameters affecting the tuberculin skin test and QuantiFERON-TB Gold tests and the results of both tests used in health care workers for confirming latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI).
Method: 94 health care workers who work in Yedikule Chest Diseases and Surgery Hosital participated to this study.The demographic characteristics of cases, working hours and the number of BCG scar were recorded.Tuberculin skin test were applied to all patients and QuantiFERON levels were measured
Results: The TST and QTF-G positivities had similar dispersion in gender groups and work types.There were a statistically significant relation between the levels of QTF with work times and ages of all participants. It was determined that there was a statistically significant relationship between positivity of QTF with TST psitivities and TST enduration diameters.
Conclusion: In this study the findings indicated that QTF is very usefull in determining and following LTBI as a confirming test for healthcare workers who have close and longterm contact with tuberculosis patients and whose TST tests were positive.
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