Sensitivity to sensitins and tuberculin in Swedish children. III. Sequential versus simultaneous skin testing

Methodological issues in the estimation of the tuberculosis problem from tuberculin surveys

SETTING

National tuberculin skin test surveys.

OBJECTIVES

To review the operating characteristics of the tuberculin skin test, to ascertain the validity of estimating prevalence and risk of infection from tuberculin skin test surveys under various conditions, and to review constraints in the estimation of the magnitude of the tuberculosis problem in the community from such surveys.

METHODS

This report utilizes hypothetical and selected real data obtained in regional and national surveys at various points in time to exemplify methodological issues.

RESULTS

Risk of infection, the essence to be abstracted from tuberculin skin test surveys, theoretically allows for a comparison of the extent of transmission of tubercle bacilli in various populations. However, the conduct of tuberculin skin test surveys and the analysis and interpretation of their results are not free from important technical problems. Accurate estimation of infection prevalence is particularly vulnerable to the great variability of the test's specificity under various circumstances. Furthermore, the annual risk of infection has averaging characteristics that preclude a rapid assessment of changes in transmission patterns. Finally, estimates of infection risk do not necessarily provide a standardized parameter to derive incidence of infectious cases, because of variations in the quality of intervention and varying risks of progression from latent infection to overt tuberculosis.

CONCLUSIONS

While tuberculin skin test surveys provide the currently most widely used means of assessing tuberculosis transmission patterns over prolonged periods of time in a community, results from such surveys must be interpreted with caution when accurate estimates of the tuberculosis problem are sought.

Palpable lymph nodes of the neck in Swedish schoolchildren

We studied 3592 Swedish schoolchildren, 8 or 9 years old, examined for palpable submandibular, cervical and supraclavicular lymph nodes. All children were skin tested with 2 TU PPD RT23 and with 0.1 microgram of Mycobacterium avium sensitin or 0.1 microgram of M. scrofulaceum sensitin. A total of 991 children had palpable lymph nodes in any of the three locations. Among them, 811 had lymph nodes in one location, 162 in two locations and 18 in three. In 312 children, the lymph nodes were > or = 5 mm in size in any location. The most common location was submandibular. Boys had a significantly higher prevalence of palpable lymph nodes than girls. There was also seasonal variation. Children infected by atypical mycobacteria (sensitin reaction > or = 6 mm) did not have a higher prevalence of palpable lymph nodes than those not infected.