[Purified protein derivatives prepared from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (PPDs) and M. intracellulare (PPD-B) in differential diagnosis of mycobacteriosis].

To reveal the possibility of differentiating diseases caused by M. tuberculosis and M. intracellulare, simultaneous tuberculin testing by PPDs and PPD-B was carried out among X-ray suspects of tuberculosis and health persons. PPD-B was prepared by Dr. Tasaka (Department of Bacteriology, Hiroshima University) from M. intracellulare (ATCC 13950). For tuberculin testing, 0.05 micrograms of PPDs from M. tuberculosis (Nihon BCG Co.) and 0.1 microgram of PPD-B were used. The study included 61 patients with disease caused by M. tuberculosis (TB), 23 patients with that of M. avium complex (MAC) and 40 healthy persons with no roentgenological abnormality (H). Forty healthy persons had been vaccinated with BCG. Statistical analysis of the diameter of reaction (redness) in each antigen in each group has been done by Boxplotting method. The results were as follows: (75% upper quartile point, median, 25% lower quartile point/mean +/- S. D.): PPDs in TB (41.8, 30.0, 19.0/32.0 +/- 17.7); PPD-B in TB (15.0, 10.5, 5.0/10.9 +/- 8.1); PPDs in MAC (26.0, 10.0, 7.0/16.4 +/- 13.9); PPD-B in MAC (20.5, 17.5, 12.5/19.1 +/- 11.4); PPDs in H (18.0, 12.0, 6.0/13.5 +/- 10.9); PPD-B in H (7.0, 2.8, 0.0/4.4 +/- 5.4). Mean of PPDs in TB patients and PPD-B in MAC patients were significantly (P less than 0.01) larger than those in other groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)