CURRENT CLINICAL INTERPRETATION OF PPD TEST: AN APPROACH ELUCIDATING

Abstract

The authors sought to interpret perfunctorily a very controversial issue related to clinical interpretation in the context of pulmonology. It becomes too complicated when the professionals do not interpret correctly a distinction between Tuberculosis disease and Tuberculosis infection. Accordingly, the authors - not to be redundant - included the interpretation of tuberculin test in its three main applications: (1) to survey the tuberculosis infection rate in a high-risk population; (2) to differentiate infected from uninfected people in order to vaccinate (BCG vaccine) only those uninfected ones; (3) to work as an auxiliary way for diagnosing lung diseases. DESCRIPTORS: Tuberculin test. Tuberculosis. Pulmonology.