Tuberculin sensitivity study in rural children around Davangere city

Estimation of tuberculin sensitivity by Mantoux test was done in 3,000 children between 1-14 years from 4 villages adopted for Rural Orientation of Medical Education Programme by JJM Medical College, Davangere. 0.1 mt. of PPD RT 23 with Tween 80 equivalent to 1 TU was given intradermally over the left forearm and the results were read after 72 hours in all the 3,000 children given PPD. 97.4% of total children were BCG vaccinated. 15.4% of BCG vaccinated and 8% of non-BCG vaccinated showed positive tuberculin reaction with an overall positivity of 11.5%. Thus the prevalence rate of tuberculin infection in these rural children was very low.