Experience of a monographic tuberculosis unit: the first 500 cases.

Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB) remains a highly prevalent and potentially severe disease. However, since 2002 the annual incidence has been decreasing both worldwide and in Spain, where the incidence varies widely between regions. The main objective of this study is to describe the experience of a monographic TB unit in a second level hospital.

Use of Quantiferon-TB-Gold in Tube(®) test for detecting latent tuberculosis in patients considered as candidates for anti-TNF therapy in routine clinical practice.

Background/methods: Quantiferon-TB-Gold in Tube(®) test (QFT-G-IT) may have advantages if combined with TST when screening for Latent Tuberculosis Infection (LTBI) prior to initiating anti-TNF therapy in an area of intermediate tuberculosis incidence such as Spain. In a small-scale prospective study, we evaluate the use of QFT-G-IT in combination with the screening recommended in Spain (Tuberculin-Skin Test, TST retest, clinical data, and Chest X-Ray (CXR)) for LTBI in patients considered as candidates for anti-TNFα treatment.

Results: From June 2008 to October 2010, 123 patients from a 300-bed hospital in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) were included in the study.