Effect of active tuberculosis on skin prick allergy tests and serum IgE levels.

Objective: Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been shown to suppress allergic airway disease driven by type 2 helper T cells in animal models. In this study, we investigated the effect of active tuberculosis on skin prick test (SPT) positivity and serum immunoglobulin (Ig) E levels of atopic patients with and without tuberculosis infection.

Materials And Methods: Seventeen atopic HIV-negative men with pulmonary tuberculosis and 18 atopic healthy male controls at our military hospital were studied prospectively between March 2005 and March 2006.