Test immuchromatographique rapide pour le diagnostic sérologique de la tuberculose

The lCT tuberculosis is an in vitro immunodiagnostic test for the detection of antibodies to Mycobacterium tuberculosis in serum or plasma. This test targets 5 recombinant M tuberculosis proteins, including the 38 and 85 KDa antigens. We evaluated this test on 65 sera from patients with and without TB living in Liege. Patients and methods: This test was performed on two groups : The TB group included 31 patients condidered to have an active tuberculosis : pulmonary (26 cases) or extrapulmonary (5 cases). All of them had at least one sample with positive culture and received anti-tuberculous treatment. The identification of TB strains was performed with Accuprobe M tuberculosis complexe (Gen-Probe). The second group (control group) included 34 patients with the following characteristics: BCG negative nonexposed healthy (19), BCG positive or exposed healthy (2), non-TB respiratory disease (10), atypical TB (3). The identification of the atypical mycobacteria was determined according to the biochemical characteristics or by molecular biology. Results. The sensitivity is 38.7%, the specificity is 94%. The positive predictive value is 85.7% and the negative predictive value is 62,7%. Two false lCT positive results were found in the control group: both patients had a past infection with TB. Conclusion: This test is very easy and rapid to perform, has a good specificity but lacks sensitivity in low prevalence countries. A positive lCT allows same day diagnosis of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection