Haroon Rashid Khan, Muhammad Imran Sohail, Muhammad Farooq Haider, Muhammad Afzal.
Comparison of Diagnostic BCG and Mantoux Tests in Detection of Tuberculosis in Children.
Ann Pak Inst Med Sci Jan ;13(1):68-72.

Objective: To compare the accuracy of diagnostic BCG and Mantoux tests for detection of Tuberculosis in Children. Study Design: Cross Sectional Survey Place and Duration: The study was conducted at outpatient department of Pediatrics, Panjab Social Security Hospital, Ahmed medical complex, Islamabad Medical and Dental College Islamabad, from August 2014 to November 2016. Materials and Methods: Patients having tuberculosis on the basis of Kenneth Edwards Criteria (scoring >7) at time of presentation were selected for the study. Guardians of all the children were described about the study protocol and informed written consent was taken. In all the patients (0.1 ml of fresh solution of freeze, dried BCG vaccine was administered intradermally in right deltoid region) and results were recorded after 48-72 hours. Similarly, all these patients were administered Mantoux test (0.1 ml of 5 TU of PPD) and results were noted after 48-72 hours. The standard criteria for results by both Mantoux test and BCG was followed. Results: The mean age of the children was 7.65 ± 5.32 years. There were 59 (52.21%) male and 54 (47.79%) female children in the study sample. Majority of the children presented with fever (85.84%), productive cough (71.68%) and weight loss (60.18%). Only 34 (30.09%) children in study group were normal and about 70% children presented with malnutrition. The results showed that the diagnostic BCG was positive in 77 (68.14%) children and in 49 (43.36%) children both the tests BCG and Mantoux tests gave positive results and in 36 (31.86%) children both BCG and Mantoux tests were negative. In 28 (24.78%) children the diagnostic BCG was positive and Mantoux test was negative. There was significantly (p-value < 0.05) higher rate of positive results on the basis of BCG test (68.14%) as compared with Mantoux test (43.36%). Conclusion: BCG skin test gives superior results in comparison to Mantoux test to diagnose tuberculosis infection in children. About 70% children in the study sample presented with malnutrition. The diagnostic BCG was positive in 68.14% children and in 43.36% children both the tests BCG and Mantoux tests gave positive results and in 31.86% children both BCG and Mantoux tests were negative.

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