%0 Journal Article %A Alexandros Charisis %A Athanasios Konstantinidis %A Constantina Gartzonika %A Dimitra Archimandriti %A Athena Gogali %A Christos Katsanos %A Athanasios Kostoulas %A Stamatis Katsenos %A George Daskalopoulos %A Stamatina Leveidiotou-Stefanou %A Anestis Mavridis %A Stavros Constantopoulos %T The additional diagnostic value of interferon gamma release assay to the tuberculin skin test in Greek health care workers (a preliminary study) %D 2011 %J European Respiratory Journal %P p2656 %V 38 %N Suppl 55 %X Introduction: Health care workers (HCWs) are at increased risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. The tuberculin skin test (TST) can be positive (among others) after vaccination with bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) creating confusion in countries where this is still compulsory, like Greece. Interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs) are used to solve this problem since they are more specific than TST and usually do not become positive after BCG vaccination.Aims and objectives: This is a preliminary study aiming to evaluate the additional diagnostic value of Quanti-FERON®-TB Gold In-Tube (QFT-GIT) to the tuberculin skin test (TST) in Greek HCWs.Methods: A cross-sectional study of TST and QFT-GIT was carried out among 275 immuno-competent HCWs at a 900-bed Greek tertiary referral University Hospital. TST was performed on all participants, while QFT-GIT was performed in all subjects with TST ≥10 mm.Results: Among the 275 study subjects, 124 (45.1%) had TST indurations of ≥10 mm, 96 of them were BCG vaccinated. None had clinical or radiologic evidence of active tuberculosis. From these 124 HCWs, 69 (age 20-67, mean 48,2) agreed to have the QFT-GIT test which was positive in only 9/69 (13%).Conclusion: Based on IGRA's results, in the majority of Greek HCWs of our study, positive TST was not due to latent tuberculosis infection but to previous BCG vaccination or other unidentified reasons, like exposure to non-tuberculous mycobacteria. This is in agreement with a previous study of our Department in a younger age group of Greek Army recruits (S. Katsenos et al. Int J Tuberc Lung Dis 14(5):545–550). %U