Mantoux reaction in children

What is the Mantoux reaction in children? Everyone came across this name, but not everyone knows why it is needed and what is being determined with it. Everyone remembers from childhood how they walked the whole class to the school doctor's office to be pricked (it's unclear why). Maybe in order to temper the will power, struggling with an unbridled desire to comb the appeared "button"? No, Mantoux is not doing it at all. The essence of this sample will be described below.

Mantoux reaction in children

The Mantoux reaction is nothing more than an immunological test that can help determine the presence of a tuberculous infection in a child's body. The whole point is that the tuberculin is injected into the body, and at the place of its injection appears a kind of inflammation, which is formed through the fault of the blood cells, which are responsible for cellular immunity. Enzymes of the microbacterium attract lymphocytes, which are contained in the blood vessels close to them. By the way, lymphocytes are attracted only to those who had previously encountered Koch's wand. Irritation on the skin will be much more noticeable if the body of the child has already been infected with microbacteria of tuberculosis. This means that the child has a positive Mantoux reaction, that is, there is a stick of Koch in his body. Very often a positive reaction is confused with a simple irritation, which arose from the fact that the child combed the site of the injection or simply moistened it.

The Mantoux reaction in a child is something of an allergy, since tuberculosis is more of an allergen than an antigen. Every kid, starting from the age of one year, must pass through this test every year, because only in this case it will be possible to detect a dangerous infection in time and take all necessary measures to completely eliminate it. However, there are also such groups of children who make such tests twice a year. These are patients with diabetes mellitus, various blood diseases, having chronic nonspecific diseases and others.

In which cases can the Mantoux reaction in children be false

Everyone remembers from the very childhood that Mantou can not be drunk in any way. This is even composed of anecdotes, jokes and real legends, which are very often even funny and witty. Yes, it really can not be wetted, as this can lead to false results. In addition to how to wet, Mantou can not:

• Smear with greenery, iodine and other disinfectant and healing remedies;
• To admit direct sunlight on it;
• Glue sticking plaster on it;
• The Mantoux reaction in children will be false even if the place of the injection is constantly touched or scratched. It is worth adding that the formed "button" sometimes very much itch and does not give rest day and night.

What to do if a child has a positive Mantoux

Do not panic ahead of time, because in most cases a positive reaction is false because the child did not follow the rules described above (even if not out of malicious intent). You have to start worrying when the repeated test also gives a positive result. It is also worth to be vigilant if the mantu shows no positive result, but according to the received data it can be concluded that the child has become more sensitive to tuberculosis (meaning a big difference between the new and old indicators). Tuberculosis is a terrible disease, which means that the doctor should be treated every time a suspicion arises.

One should not think that the Mantoux reaction is someone's useless invention, from which no one has any use. In fact, it is very important and without it there would be many more people in the world who would have had tuberculosis, which could lead to unpredictable and very dangerous consequences.