Importance of tuberculosis screening before inhibiting tumour necrosis factor-alpha therapy.

INTRODUCTION

There has been an increase in the incidence of tuberculosis infection in recent years, due to the increasing use of drugs inhibiting tumour necrosis factor-alpha (anti-TNFα) in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

CASE REPORT: We report the case of a male patient being treated with infliximab (anti-TNFα) who developed disseminated tuberculosis with ocular involvement.

CONCLUSION

It is very important to conduct a proper screening to detect patients at risk for tuberculosis before starting treatment with these drugs. For this purpose, the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold in Tube (Interferon Gamma Release Assay, IGRA) is presented as an alternative screening test with high sensitivity and specificity.