Latent tuberculosis infection was the term traditionally used to indicate tuberculosis (TB) infection. This term was used to define “a state of persistent immune response to stimulation by Mycobacterium tuberculosis antigens through tests such as the tuberculin skin test (TST) or an interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) without clinically active TB”.

As an ancient infectious disease, tuberculosis (TB) is still the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent worldwide. Latent TB infection (LTBI) has been recognized as the largest source of new TB cases and is one of the biggest obstacles to achieving the aim of the End TB Strategy.

High accuracy diagnostic screening tests for tuberculosis (TB) are required to improve the diagnosis of both active TB and latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection (LTBI). The novel IGRA LIOFeron®TB/LTBI assay was tested and its accuracy was compared to the QuantiFERON®-TB Gold Plus assay.