Screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) in US Army Recruits

Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine

Status

Completed

Conditions

Latent Tuberculosis Infection

Treatments

Other: T-spot

Other: QFT

Drug: TST

Drug: BST

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT00804713

IDCRP-021

Details and patient eligibility

About

The overall objective of this study is to assess the feasibility and potential impact of using a targeted testing approach and 2 interferon-gamma release assays (IGRA) to screen for latent tuberculosis (TB) infection (LTBI) among military recruits. The current policy of universal application of the Mantoux tuberculin skin test (TST) to screen for LTBI may result in many TST reactions among recruits who are at low risk for LTBI. The central hypothesis is that targeted testing by use of the questionnaire will reduce unnecessary testing of low-risk recruits without affecting the identification of higher-risk recruits. The secondary hypothesis is that many discordant results between the TST and IGRA may be explained by cross-reactivity to non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) with the TST.

Enrollment

2,017 patients

Sex

All

Ages

18+ years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Any recruit, age 18 years or older, undergoing routine entry-level medical processing at Fort Jackson

Exclusion criteria

If they have history of severe reactions to TST (e.g., blistering, scar, or symptoms of immediate hypersensitivity)
If they are unwilling to provide written consent for the study
If they are unwilling to provide Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) authorization