new advances in diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection: a review article

Context: it has been estimated that one-third of the world’s population are suffering from latent tuberculosis infection (ltbi). in order to control tuberculosis in high-risk groups proper diagnosis and treatment is essential. evidence acquisition: useless and expensive tests such as unfocused population-based tests can lead to futile and unnecessary treatments. targeted screening approaches and individualization of ltbi treatment protocols must be a priority. results: diagnostic methods with immune based tests such as the tuberculin skin test (tst) or interferon gamma release assays (igra) can accurately detect ltbi. however, interferon-gamma release assays have higher specificity than tst in bacille camette-gurin (bcg)-vaccinated populations; both tests are precise to identify latent tuberculosis. however, it is of great concern that both tests have insignificant roles in predicting risk of progression to active tuberculosis. conclusions: here we review the clinical applications, advantages, and limitations of the tuberculin skin test and interferon-gamma release assays and provide an overview of the most recent systematic reviews conducted for the comparison of these tests.