Never say Nyet

Cellestis moves into the land of drug resistant TB - Russia

With tuberculosis infection widespread and extensively drug resistant disease prominent throughout Russia, there is an urgent need for improved tuberculosis testing. For years the tuberculin skin test has been the only diagnostic for latent tuberculosis available in this region. The skin test's major limitation is that it is highly confounded by the BCG vaccination, which is mandatory in Russia at birth and again between 7 and 14 years of age. Falsely positive skin test reactions induced by BCG vaccination prevent accurate tuberculosis diagnosis in the Russian population. However, public health programs and tuberculosis clinics in the region are now beginning to use QFT for one-step tuberculosis diagnosis because it is not influenced by BCG vaccination and is proven to be a more accurate and cost-effective means of detecting tuberculosis.