Performance evaluation of tests used for tuberculin screening in adults: randomised comparison between Tine and Mono

Between February 1993 and December 1994, 875 adults underwent tuberculin screening by the Public Health Service of Parma. The adults were randomly assigned to a multipuncture test, Tine or Mono, and contemporarily, as a reference test, received the intradermal Mantoux (IM) in the opposite arm. The tests were then read 72 hours later by two different trained nurses. The error quota due to IM was estimated by repeating both the tests done initially in patients with discordant results. The Mono test revealed a sensitivity of 95%, which was the same as that observed for the Mantoux test. As an 'operative index' of the screening, the number of false positives subsequently tested for every 10 correctly identified was used. The authors retain that the results obtained indicate the validity of the Mono test for screening in the adult population with a prevalence of tuberculous infection above 10%.