[The utility of QuantiFERON TB Gold for diagnosing tuberculous meningitis in children]

We performed QuantiFERON-TB Gold in Tube (QFT-G) in blood and CSF at 40 children diagnosed with TB meningitis and at 39 children with non TB meningitis, admitted between October 2006 and December 2009.The CSF analyses were suggestive for TB at 27 patients and only 14 had positive culture. The sensitivity of QFT-G in CSF was 72.72% and 69.44% in blood; specificity 96.96% in CSF and 89.18% in blood; the positive predictive value was 96% in CSF and 86.2% in blood; negative predictive value was 78.04% in CSF and 75% in blood. The sensitivity of TST was 61.76% and specificity 82.05%. The sensitivity of the culture from CSF was only 35%. The sensitivity and specificity of QFT-G was higher than TST and culture and better in CSF than in blood.The determination of alpha-interferon in serum and CSF is useful diagnostic marker of tuberculosis who could improve the management of TB meningitis.