New Tuberculosis Testing Guidelines Put Forth by Professional Societies, CDC.

New Tuberculosis Testing Guidelines Put Forth by Professional Societies, CDC. Individuals at risk for latent or active tuberculosis infection should be assessed with newer tests such as interferon-gamma release assays (IGRAs) and molecular diagnostics, according to new evidence-based guidelines put forth by a cadre of expert organizations. In the first new guidelines to be published in 17 years, a task force supported by the American Thoracic Society, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Infectious Diseases Society of America gathered current relevant evidence and made 23 recommendations about diagnostic testing for latent, pulmonary, and extrapulmonary TB. The task force published its recommendations yesterday in Clinical Infectious Diseases. Of the 23 recommendations, the task force deemed six as "strong," meaning that most individuals should receive the intervention, and the recommendation can be adopted as policy in most situations. The remaining 17 recommendations were deemed as "conditional" by the task force, meaning that the majority of affected individuals would want the suggested course of action, but some would not; that physicians should take other factors into consideration before following the course of action; and that "policymaking will require substantial debate and involvement of various stakeholders." continue