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LETTER TO EDITOR |
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Year : 2010 | Volume
: 58
| Issue : 4 | Page : 346-347 |
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Authors' reply
Kalpana Babu1, Vidya Satish1, S Satish2, DK SubbaKrishna3, Mariamma Philips Abraham3, Krishna R Murthy1
1 Vittala International Institute of Ophthalmology & Prabha Eye Clinic and Research Center, Bangalore, India 2 Santosh Diagnostic Centre, Bangalore, India 3 Department of Biostatistics, National Institute of Mental Health Sciences, Bangalore, India
Date of Web Publication | 7-Jun-2010 |
Correspondence Address: Kalpana Babu Prabha Eye Clinic & Research Center, 504, 40th Cross, Jayanagar 8th Block, Bangalore-560 070 India
Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None | Check |
How to cite this article: Babu K, Satish V, Satish S, SubbaKrishna D K, Abraham MP, Murthy KR. Authors' reply. Indian J Ophthalmol 2010;58:346-7 |
Dear Editor,
We wish to thank Chabblani [1] for their interest in this article. [2]
We would like to clarify a few points raised in their letter.
In all patients with a positive quantiferon TB gold test, a detailed systemic evaluation by a chest physician with special interest in tuberculosis followed up with basic laboratory investigations like Mantoux test, ESR, Chest X-ray and liver enzymes were done before labeling them false positives.
It has been mentioned in our article in the 'Materials and methods' that history of prior BCG vaccination could not be obtained in all cases due to inability to recall by the patient or absence of the BCG scar. It is also known that vaccine-induced reactions tend to wane over time and are unlikely to persist over 10 years. [3],[4]
Group C had five out of 21 cases positive for the quantiferon TB gold test. Among the 21 cases in Group C, PPD positivity was seen in two cases. Only one case out of the 21 cases had both PPD and Quanti feron TB gold test positive while 15 of the 21 cases had both tests negative. In Group D, 28 cases out of 39 cases had both tests positive and had intraocular tuberculosis (response to antitubercular therapy). As a result, the specificity and sensitivity remains unchanged.
References | | |
1. | Chhablani J. Comment on: Utility of QuantiFERON Tuberculosis gold test in a south Indian patient population of ocular inflammation. Indian J Ophthalmol 2010;58:346. |
2. | Babu K, Satish V, Satish S, Subbakrishna DK, Abraham MP, Murthy KR. Utility of QuantiFERON TB gold test in a south Indian patient population of ocular inflammation. Indian J Ophthalmol 2009;57:427-30. [ PUBMED] |
3. | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Screening for tuberculosis and tuberculosis infection in high-risk populations. Recommendations of the Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis. MMWR Recomm Rep 1995;44:19-34. [ PUBMED] [ FULLTEXT] |
4. | Bansal R, Gupta A, Gupta V, Dogra MR, Bambery P, Arora SK. Role of anti-tubercular therapy in uveitis with latent/manifest tuberculosis. Am J Ophthalmol 2008;146:772-9. [ PUBMED] [ FULLTEXT] |
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