Mono-Vacc

The Mono-Vacc ®Test (O.T.) is indicated for the detection of tuberculin sensitivity in high risk children: including American Indian and Alaskan native children, children living in neighborhoods where the case rate is higher than the national average; children from, or whose parents have immigrated from Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, or the Caribbean; and children in households with one or more cases of tuberculosis. 1

Annual testing of low-risk groups (from areas of low prevalence) is not indicated. 1,2 In low-risk groups, a reasonable alternative to no routine testing is to perform skin tests at three stages of childhood and adolescence which coincide with routine health appraisals or immunizations: (1) at 12 to 15 months of age (before or at the time of administration of measles-mumps-rubella (MMR), before school entry (4 to 6 years of age), and (2) in adolescence (at 14 to 16 years of age). The tuberculin skin test is always indicated for individuals with known contact with a person with tuberculous disease; if the test is negative, it should be repeated 8 to 10 weeks after separation from the contact. 1

The following groups also are recommended to be screened for tuberculosis and tuberculous infection: 3

1. Persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 3

2. Persons with medical risk factors known to increase the risk of disease if infection has occurred. 3

3. Alcoholics and intravenous drug users. 3

4. Residents of long-term-care facilities, correctional institutions, mental institutions, nursing homes/facilities, and other long-term residential facilities. 3

Since this test is a screening procedure, positive Mono-Vacc ®Test (O.T.) reactions should be confirmed by a 5 TU Tuberculin, PPD Mantoux Test (intradermal) and possibly other diagnostic test procedures.

The need for repeat skin testing should be determined by the likelihood of exposure to infectious tuberculosis. All tuberculin-negative individuals in high-risk groups should be retested if exposure to an infectious case occurs. In some institutional and group-living environments (e. g., hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, shelters for the homeless), the risk of exposure is probably high enough to justify repeat testing at 6 to 24-month intervals. 3

Repeated testing of the uninfected individual does not sensitize to tuberculin. 3