Background: Adolescents are a prime target group for tuberculosis (TB) vaccine trials that include prevention of infection (POI). The BCG vaccine is given at birth and does not prevent TB infection. TB infection, a critical endpoint for POI vaccine trials would need to be documented to estimate sample sizes in target populations.
Methods: Adolescents aged 12-18 years of age were enrolled in an area under continuous demographic surveillance. A tuberculin skin test (TST) survey was conducted as part of a study on TB prevalence and incidence. All adolescents got TSTs at enrolment and returned after 72 hours for reading. A TST of ≥10mm if HIV negative or ≥ 5mm if HIV positive, was considered positive.
Results: Of 5004 adolescents enrolled, 4808 (96%) returned for TST readings. Of these 2327(48.4%) were female, 861 (17.9%) had no BCG scar, and 23 (0.5%) were HIV positive. The baseline prevalence of tuberculous infection was 32% (95% CI 29-35%) with a corresponding ARTI of 2.6% (95% CI 2.2-3.1%). Male gender (OR 1.3, 95%CI 1.2,1.5), having a BCG scar (OR 1.4,95%CI 1.3,1.7) and not being enrolled in school (OR 1.8, 95%CI 1.4,2.3) were independent predictors of a positive tuberculin skin test at baseline.
Conclusion: We conclude that the high TB transmission rates we found in this study, suggest that adolescents in this region may be an appropriate target group for TB vaccine trials including TB vaccine trials aiming to prevent infection.