Rapid diagnosis of CNS tuberculosis by a T-cell interferon-g release assay on cerebrospinal fluid mononuclear cells

Background: Central nervous system tuberculosis remains a clinical diagnostic challenge. The ex vivo Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISPOT) is a novel assay for the rapid detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) -specific T-lymphocytes in the peripheral blood. However, when performed on peripheral blood, this assay can not distinguish between active tuberculosis or latent tuberculosis infection. Methods: We ascertained whether Mycobacterium tuberculosis-specific cells can be identified by ELISPOT in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) ple…