Tuberculin Hypersensitivity in Tuberculous Infants Treated with Isoniazid

Abstract

THE purpose of this paper is to record marked decrease of skin tuberculin hypersensitivity in 4 tuberculous infants during isoniazid therapy, and to discuss the possible implications of this phenomenon. Nine other cases are presented in which the hypersensitivity did not occur.ObservationsThe group of cases in which tuberculin hypersensitivity was greatly diminished is described in Table 1. All 4 of these patients were under two years of age, were found to have positive skin reactions to old tuberculin (definitely positive Mantoux reactions to 1:1000 dilution) on contact examination and had normal roentgenograms of the chest. They were all treated . . .