ArticleClinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America2025
The Effect of Live-Virus Vaccines on Tests for Tuberculosis Infection During the US Immigration Medical Examination: Are Vaccines Causing False-Negative Results?
Article in Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- A Year in Review on Tuberculosis and Non-tuberculous Mycobacteria Disease: A 2026 Update for Clinicians and Scientists.Pathogens & immunity · 2026Review
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3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIt is not recommended to perform tuberculin skin tests (TSTs) or interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) in the 4 weeks following live-virus vaccination because these vaccines are thought to increase the risk of false-negative results.
methodsWe retrospectively analyzed TST and IGRA results for 158 484 US-bound immigrant and refugee children aged 2-14 years who received a required medical examination and live-virus vaccines (measles, mumps, rubella; oral polio; or varicella) overseas during 2014-2022. We created logistic regression models to assess the association between test positivity and vaccination during the critical interval (1-28 days after live-virus vaccination) versus after or before, adjusting for sex, age group, country of examination, and other factors.
resultsThe percentage of positive results and the adjusted odds of a positive IGRA result were higher for children tested during the critical interval (4.6%) than for those tested after (3.5%) (adjusted odds ratio, 1.27 [95% confidence interval, 1.13-1.43) or before (3.3%) (1.26 [1.13-1.41]). The percentage of positive results and the adjusted odds of a positive TST were also higher for children tested during the critical interval (15.7%) than for those tested after (7.2%) (adjusted odds ratio, 2.40 [95% confidence interval, 1.79-3.22]) or before (6.6%) (3.81 [2.80--5.18]).
conclusionsThe concern that recent administration of live-virus vaccines leads to false-negative TST and IGRA results is not supported by these findings. Instead, we observed a modest increase in positive results among children tested during the critical postvaccination interval, challenging the need for the testing delay.
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