Latent tuberculosis infection
Date:
12/09/2021
Topics:
Citation:
Shah M, Dorman SE. Latent Tuberculosis Infection. N Engl J Med. 2021 Dec 9;385(24):2271-2280. doi: 10.1056/NEJMcp2108501. PMID: 34879450.
Abstract
A 36-year-old man comes to establish care with a primary care clinician. He has no chronic medical conditions and takes no medications. He was born and lived in India until 1 year ago, when he came to the United States. He reports never having had tuberculosis or tuberculosis testing, although when the patient was a child, his father was treated for tuberculosis disease. The patient received bacille Calmette–Guérin vaccine as an infant. He reports no cough, fever, night sweats, or weight loss. Should testing for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection be performed and, if so, how? If testing shows evidence of M. tuberculosis infection, how should this patient be treated?