ArticlePloS one2022
Resistance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among highly TB exposed South African gold miners.
Article in PloS one, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Comparing the diagnostic performance of QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus with QFT-GIT, T-SPOT.TB and TST: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2023Pooled it
- A human YEATS4 variant confers resistance to TST and IGRA conversion despite Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure.Genome medicine · 2025Article
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis resisters despite HIV exhibit activated T cells and macrophages in their pulmonary alveoli.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2025Article
- Association of Mycobacterium tuberculosis aerosolization and HIV coinfection in the index case with T cell responses in household contacts.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Household contact antigen-speciResearch square · 2024Article
- Specific CD4Nature immunology · 2024Article
- Capturing RecentTropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Article
- Impact of Reversion of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Immunoreactivity Tests on the Estimated Annual Risk of Tuberculosis Infection.American journal of epidemiology · 2023Article
- Genetic epidemiology of resistance to M. tuberculosis Infection: importance of study design and recent findings.Genes and immunity · 2023Review
- Clinical manifestations and immune response to tuberculosis.World journal of microbiology & biotechnology · 2023Review
- Article
- Know your tuberculosis epidemic-Is it time to add Mycobacterium tuberculosis immunoreactivity back into global surveillance?PLOS global public health · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 5 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundDespite high exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a small proportion of South African goldminers resist TB infection. We determined, among long-service gold miners i) the proportion who were TB uninfected and ii) epidemiological factors associated with being uninfected.
methodsWe enrolled HIV-negative gold miners aged 33-60 years with ≥15 years' service and no history of TB or silicosis. Miners were defined as TB uninfected if i) QuantiFERON-TB Gold Plus (QFT-Plus) negative or ii) in a stricter definition, QFT-Plus-negative and zero-response on TST and as resisters if they were of Black/African ethnicity and negative on both tests. Logistic regression was used to identify epidemiological factors associated with being TB uninfected.
resultsOf 307 participants with a QFT-Plus result, median age was 48 years (interquartile range [IQR] 44-53), median time working underground was 24 years (IQR 18-28), 303 (99%) were male and 91 (30%) were QFT-Plus-negative. The odds of being TB uninfected was 52% lower for unskilled workers (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.48; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.27-0.85; p = 0.013). Among 281 participants of Black/African ethnicity, 71 (25%) were QFT-Plus negative. Miners with a BMI ≥30 were less likely to be TB uninfected (OR 0.38; 95% CI 0.18-0.80). Using the stricter definition, 44.3% (136/307) of all miners were classified as either TB uninfected (35; 26%) or infected, (101; 74%) and the associations remained similar. Among Black/African miners; 123 were classified as either TB uninfected (23; 19%) or infected (100; 81%) using the stricter definition. No epidemiological factors for being TB uninfected were identified.
conclusionsDespite high cumulative exposure, a small proportion of miners appear to be resistant to TB infection and are without distinguishing epidemiological characteristics.
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