QuantiFERON - TB Gold Plus

QuantiFERON - TB Gold Plus study description

In Poland, the incidence of tuberculosis is slightly higher than the European Union average – there are about 20 patients  per 100,000 population, while the aforementioned average is about 10 cases per 100,000. According to the World Health Organization, about 30% of the population is infected  with mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mycobacterium tuberculosis), but this does not mean that everyone infected will get sick. This is because most infections are latent. This means that infection with the bacteria is asymptomatic, and people infected with mycobacterium tuberculosis cannot infect others. Of particular importance in such latent mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI) is early detection of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, as latent infection can progress to overt tuberculosis.

What is and what is the QuantiFERON - TB Gold Plus test

The QuantiFERON QTF test is one of the IGRAs, or interferongamma release tests. Under the action of specific proteins Mycobacterium tuberculosis activation of T lymphocytes and interferon synthesis occurs. These proteins are primarily ESAT-6 and CFP-10. These proteins are not present in the TB vaccine, and they are not present in most non-tuberculous mycobacteria. This makes the IGRA test a sensitive and specific diagnostic method for the diagnosis of latent mycobacterial infection.

The superiority of the QuantiFERON test over the commonly used tuberculin test comes down to the aforementioned specificity, as well as the ability to use the test in immunocompromised patients. In such individualsb the tuberculin prba gives a false negative result.

NOTE -  collection is possible from Monday to Thursday