Use of ESAT‐6 and CFP‐10 Antigens for Diagnosis of Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis

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Abstract
Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EP-TB) remains an important diagnostic and therapeutic problem. In active pulmonary TB (P-TB), clinical symptoms confirmed by a laboratory test give a relatively clear result, whereas diagnosis can be rather problematic in patients with EP-TB, children, elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Radiographic analysis in EP-TB often is not conclusive, and the tuberculin purified protein derivative (PPD) skin test is considered by many clinicians to be unreliable. Bacteria in EP-TB cases can be present in low numbers at inaccessible sites. Therefore, invasive procedures are usually necessary to confirm the infection. Furthermore, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic has changed the proportion of EP-TB among TB cases, increasing the numbers of new EP-TB cases to >15% of total TB cases [1]. Thus, new early and rapid diagnostic procedures are important for TB control.

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