@article {UtoP2860, author = {Tomohiro Uto and Kazumasa Yasuda and Shinya Sagisaka and Jun Sato and Shiro Imokawa and Takafumi Suda and Kingo Chida}, title = {Serial QuantiFERON TB-2G testing for 4 years of health care workers in a city hospital}, volume = {42}, number = {Suppl 57}, elocation-id = {P2860}, year = {2013}, publisher = {European Respiratory Society}, abstract = {Objective: To evaluate the performance and practicality of the QuantiFERON TB-2G (QFT-2G) test for screening healthcare workers (HCWs) at a second health care level hospital in Japan without any tuberculosis (TB)-specific wards.Methods: Chart review of 951 HCWs (251 men and 700 women) at Iwata City Hospital who underwent QFT-2G testing as a part of their pre- or annual employee screening between April 2007 and March 2010.Results: The initial QFT-2G was interpreted as positive for 28 (2.9\%) HCWs, negative for 884 (92.9\%), and indeterminate for 39 (3.2\%). During 4 years, 37 HCWs (9 men and 28 women; median age 47 years, range 22{\textendash}64) were diagnosed as positive at least once. They consisted of 19 nurses (3.86\% of total), 8 official staff members (7.55\% of total), 5 medical doctors (3.31\% of total), 3 medical technicians (3.37\% of total), 1 pharmacologist (5.00\% of total), and 1 midwife (2.86\% of total). There were 923 HCWs with results that were interpreted as negative or indeterminate at initial testing, and 9 (0.98\%) of these converted to positive results. No HCWs with a positive result had a history of TB or any apparent contact with active TB patients, and they did not opt for treatment of latent TB. Seven (25\%) of 28 positive HCWs at initial test reverted to indeterminate or negative.Conclusions: In a series of annual serial QFT-2G tests, there were some cases with conversion and/or reversion. Therefore, caution is needed for interpretation of mild fluctuation in IFN-γ response.}, issn = {0903-1936}, URL = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2860}, eprint = {https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P2860.full.pdf}, journal = {European Respiratory Journal} }