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To the Editor: Two different commercial tuberculin reagents are available in the United States. Villarino et al¹ concluded that "both Aplisol [Parkdale Pharmaceuticals, Rochester, Mich] and Tubersol [Pasteur Mérieux Connaught USA, Swiftwater, Pa] will correctly classify comparable numbers of persons not infected with M[ycobacterium] tuberculosis and that the choice of product used for [tuberculin] skin testing has little effect on test performance." An experience at our institution with false-positive tuberculin skin test (TST) results among a group of health care workers, which was associated with the use of Aplisol, contradicts these conclusions.

Methods

We investigated a marked increase in TST conversions among health care workers at the Grady Health System that began in mid-September 1999. Tuberculin skin tests are mandatory for all health care workers every 6 months unless there is documentation of a previously positive result. Tests are placed and read by the hospital's employee health service . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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