Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine team finds increased rate of TB infection among adolescents in Tanzania

Published today in PLOS ONE, “Serial T-SPOT.TB responses in Tanzanian adolescents: transient, persistent and irregular conversions”, investigators from the Geisel School of Medicine and Muhimibili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) report high rates of new tuberculosis (TB) infection among adolescents in Tanzania. Multiple blood tests for TB infection were conducted over three years in 650 schoolchildren age 13-15 and showed that the risk of acquiring new TB infection was 3 percent per year. In addition, by performing six or more blood tests on each volunteer with an interferon gamma release assay (IGRAs) the study team identified new patterns of transition between positive and negative IGRA tests for TB infection.