• Pediatric Infection and Vaccine
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 2011

Purpose : Early diagnosis of active tuberculosis (TB) in children is difficult. The widely used tuberculin skin test has low sensitivity and cross reactivity with non-tuberculous mycobacteria or Bacille Calmette-Gu$\acute{e}$rin vaccination. Interferon gamma release assays have been shown good diagnostic accuracy for active in adults. But studies in children were limited. The purpose of this study was to examine the performance of enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISpot) as an initial test in the diagnosis of active tuberculosis in children. Methods : In a hospital-based study, we prospectively examined the performance of ELISPot in 33 children suspected of active TB. TB was confirmed bacteriologically or histologically. Results : Among 33 patients, 9 had active tuberculosis. When tested, they all had a positive test result from the ELISpot. The sensitivity and specificity of the assay were 100% (95% CI, 66.4-100%) and 95.8% (95% CI, 78.9-99.9%) respectively. Conclusion : ELISpot might be an useful and improved clinical diagnostic method for the detection of active TB in children.