Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease
Volume 16, 2017, Pages 35-40

Association between parasitic infections and tuberculin skin test results in refugees (Article)

Watts N.S. , Mizinduko M.M. , Barnett E.D. , White L.F. , Hochberg N.S.*
  • a Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States, Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States, Nathaniel Watts and Mucho Mizinduko - 715 Albany Street, Talbot Building, T2C, Boston, MA 02118, United States
  • b Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States, Nathaniel Watts and Mucho Mizinduko - 715 Albany Street, Talbot Building, T2C, Boston, MA 02118, United States
  • c Department of Pediatrics, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States, Elizabeth Barnett - 72 East Concord St., Boston, MA 02118, United States
  • d Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States, Laura White - Crosstown Building, 801 Massachusetts Avenue 3rd Floor, Boston, MA 02118, United States
  • e Department of Epidemiology, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, United States, Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

Background Parasitic infections are known to modulate the immune response necessary for controlling Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. We sought to investigate species-specific effects of parasite infection on M. tuberculosis infection. Methods As part of the Refugee Health Assessment Program, stool examinations and tuberculin skin testing were performed on refugees seen at Boston Medical Center between 1995 and 2012. Tuberculin skin test (TST) and stool examination data were collected for 6669 refugees; 3349 (50.2%) were TST positive (≥10 mm). Results Among TST-positive subjects, 176 (5.3%) had helminth infections and 1149 (34.3%) protozoa. After adjusting for sex, age, and country of origin, helminth and protozoan infections were not associated with TST-positivity. When species-specific effects were examined, subjects infected with Trichuris trichiura and Giardia lamblia had reduced odds of TST-positivity (adjusted OR [aOR] 0.65 [95%CI 0.44–0.96; p = 0.03] and aOR 0.79 [95%CI 0.65–0.95, p = 0.01], respectively). Conclusions Our findings suggest that T. trichiura and G. lamblia may provide protection against M. tuberculosis infection. This study adds to a growing body of literature suggesting that immune response modulation and susceptibility to M. tuberculosis infection is parasite species-dependent. © 2017 Elsevier Ltd

Author Keywords

Immigrant tuberculosis Tuberculin test Parasites Latent tuberculosis

Index Keywords

parasitology Giardia intestinalis Trichuris trichiura parasitosis refugee complication human Refugees middle aged feces analysis statistics and numerical data priority journal Aged Young Adult Humans Adolescent male preschool child Aged, 80 and over tuberculosis very elderly Infant protozoal infection Child, Preschool female Article Retrospective Studies major clinical study tuberculin test adult Feces helminthiasis retrospective study Parasitic Diseases Child
Link
https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85016819932&doi=10.1016%2fj.tmaid.2017.03.007&partnerID=40&md5=caa48e8f9c8c1116e565d8e0a5e12ff2
DOI: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2017.03.007
ISSN: 14778939
Cited by: 3
Original Language: English