Who Should be Ruled out for TB?

Ever asked yourself whether someone should be ruled out for TB and weren’t sure how to answer the question? Here are a couple of articles that help answer the question. TB risk factors, positive PPD, fever, upper lobe infiltrate are all positive predictors of TB infection. Shortness of breath and crackles were negative predictors.

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/160/16/2471 – retrospective evaluation of the prediction tool

http://archinte.ama-assn.org/cgi/reprint/165/4/453 – prospective validation of the prediction tool