The Mantoux test in tuberculosis: correlations between the diameters of the dermal responses and the serum protein levels.

The diameters of the skin-test response to tuberculin read at five different times differed markedly in their relationships to the serum levels of albumin, gamma globulin and other globulins and to the haemoglobin levels. The 48 hour response was the most affected by low albumin and haemoglobin levels, both of which were significantly associated with a history of decreasing weight and appetite. In view of strong evidence indicating that the 48 hour skin test response is a measure of an inappropriate, or even antagonistic, immune reaction in tuberculosis it is postulated that a reduction of this reaction under conditions of a low dietary intake of protein is not necessarily indicative of an impairment of the protective immune functions in this disease.