Abstract

This study was conducted to determine the frequency of infected children cohabiting with sputum-positive and negative tuberculous adults for grounding the authenticity of the Montoux test in diagnosing tuberculosis among these groups. It was inferred from the study that a significant figure of the children with positive tuberculin skin test was not found to be diseased with tuberculosis and those with negative test results were diagnosed tuberculous based on chest X-ray, sputum examination, and FNAC of enlarged lymph nodes. Therefore, despite its widespread use, a large proportion of children remain undiagnosed yet are infected. Therefore, the Montoux test solely is not worth reliable for the diagnosis of tuberculosis and hence confirmation of the disease by more sophisticated tests is mandatory.

Keywords

Montoux test, tuberculin skin test, sputum smear-positive TB, sputum smear-negative TB