QFT false negatives

Japanese doctors said "we have to consider the possibility of false negative."

Consider it considered;



Kekkaku Vol.84, No.10: 681-684, 2009

Case Report

A CASE OF MULTIPLE-DRUG-RESISTANT PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS IN A HEMODIALYSIS HOSPITAL

Rika KOIKE, Hirotoshi WATASE, and Hitoshi HOSHINO

Abstract

A 42-year-old male with chronic renal failure was diagnosed as multiple-drug-resistant pulmonary tuberculosis,9 months after the onset of hemodialysis.

During the period before the diagnosis of tuberculosis, he visited regularly the hemodialysis hospital, accordingly many patients with hemodialysis and the hospital staffs had close and long contact with the patient. Our health center planned and conducted contact examinations among them, with QFT-TB test and chest X-ray.

Petients with hemodialysis are regarded as immunocompromised hosts, one of the high risk groups for infections.

The result of QFT-TB test of patients were negative, however,we have to cosider the possibility of false-negative.

So we followed up by monthly chest X-ray examination all hemodialysis patients for 2 years, and finally, it was found that secondary infection of multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis among immunocompromised hosts did not occur.

Key words: Multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB),Hemodialysis, Immunocompromised host,
QuantiFERON(QFT-TB), Contact examination

1Shakujii Health Counseling Centre, 2Joto Health Consultation Centre,
3Research Institute of Tuberculosis, Japan Anti-Tuberculosis Association

Correspondence to : Rika Koike, Shakujii Health Counseling Centre, 7-3-28, Shakujiimachi, Nerima-ku, Tokyo 177-0041 Japan.