What is it about?
Current tuberculosis screening for prisoners is the chest x-ray examination. Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific interferon-gamma release assays provide more accurate method to diagnose latent tuberculosis infection with higher specificity than the tuberculin skin test (TST). This study is the first cost-effectiveness analysis that demonstrated that QuantiFERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT) strategy is the most cost-effective for entry TB screening in prisons compared to TST, TST followed by QFT and chest X-ray.
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Why is it important?
This study showed that entry TB screening of prisoners using an IGRA is recommended on the basis of the cost-effectiveness, not only to reduce TB incidence in prisons, but also to prevent the spread of TB infection in the local community.
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This page is a summary of: Cost-effectiveness of interferon-gamma release assay for entry tuberculosis screening in prisons, Epidemiology and Infection, January 2013, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s0950268812002907.
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