TST-Negative Individuals Do Not Lack Anti-Mycobacterial Responsiveness

摘要

Tuberculin-skin-test (TST) is widely used for the diagnosis of Tuberculosis. Negative TSTs are occasionallyfound in individuals vaccinated or infected by Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We show that false negative results are due toa lack of the Tuberculin-specific immune response as replacing tuberculin by unselected M. tuberculosis antigens improvedthe efficiency of the assay.