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Latent Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis

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Handbook of Global Tuberculosis Control

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Abstract

Mycobacterium tuberculosis has two distinct stages in a human host: latent infection, where the bacteria do not actively reproduce and the host remains asymptomatic, and tuberculosis (TB) disease, where the bacteria actively reproduce causing the host to become ill. Latent infection may remain clinically silent and unrecognized for life or it may be activated into clinical disease after a prolonged period of time. The prevalence of latent infection with M. tuberculosis usually increases with age, is higher among males than females, and varies with socioeconomic determinants. Tuberculin skin test and Interferon-γ Release Assays (IGRAs) are used to identify persons who have been latently infected by M. tuberculosis. While IGRAs have a high specificity among both BCG-vaccinated and unvaccinated populations as compared with the tuberculin skin test, positive predictive value for the risk of progression to TB among those who had positive test results of IGRA remains relatively low. Potential strategies to improve our ability to address latent infection with M. tuberculosis include reducing risk of transmission (intensified case finding and effective case management, infection control, and preexposure vaccine), reducing risk of progression (risk factor management, preventive chemotherapy, and postexposure vaccine), and developing new diagnostics with better predictive power.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Chen-Yuan Chiang

  2. Centre for International Health, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Sven Gudmund Hinderaker

  3. Institute of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, National Taiwan University, 17 Xuzhou Road, Taipei, Taiwan

    Hsien-Ho Lin

  4. Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa

    Donald A. Enarson

Authors
  1. Chen-Yuan Chiang
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  2. Sven Gudmund Hinderaker
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  3. Hsien-Ho Lin
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  4. Donald A. Enarson
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chen-Yuan Chiang .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Haikou VTI Biological Institute, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

    Yichen Lu

  2. Chinese Nat’l Ctr Disease Control and Prevention, Nat’l Center for TB Control & Prevention Chinese Nat’l Ctr Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

    Lixia Wang

  3. National Center for Tuberculosis Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

    Hongjin Duanmu

  4. Brookline, Massachusetts, USA

    Chris Chanyasulkit

  5. Vaccine Technologies, Inc., Wellesley, Massachusetts, USA

    Amie J. Strong

  6. National Center for Tuberculosis Control and Prevention, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China

    Hui Zhang

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Chiang, CY., Hinderaker, S.G., Lin, HH., Enarson, D.A. (2017). Latent Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis . In: Lu, Y., Wang, L., Duanmu, H., Chanyasulkit, C., Strong, A., Zhang, H. (eds) Handbook of Global Tuberculosis Control. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6667-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6667-7_21

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  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6665-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6667-7

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