Tuberculin

Tuberculin is a mixture of purified and selected proteins obtained from bacteria ( Mycobacterium tuberculosis ). As a diagnostic agent can thus in people who had been with the appropriate bacterial contact (and appropriate deterrents have formed), a skin reaction in the sense of "delayed hypersensitivity" ( delayed hypersensitivity ) trigger ( Mantoux test ).

Old tuberculin

The first variants of tuberculin come from Robert Koch (1890), the discoverer of the tuberculosis bacillus , who saw the tuberculin published by him in 1890/91 as a cure for tuberculosis and tested it on a large scale, which led to the "tuberculin scandal" because its " Tuberculin “was useful as a diagnostic tool, but ineffective as a remedy. Koch's old tuberculin ( tuberculinum Kochii ) was derived from Mycobacterium tuberculosis grown on glycerol peptone bouillon-Strains obtained by evaporation and filtration. Old tuberculin was on the market until 1970 and was used until the end in the internal control of the German PPD tuberculin production, which was discontinued in 2004 (PPD: Purified Protein Derivate , from "purified protein derivatives ").

PPD tuberculins

The inconsistency of the old tuberculins required further development at an early stage: The development of PPD tuberculin goes back to the work of Florence B. Seibert in the USA from 1926. By ultracentrifugation , and selective precipitation, the purity of the final product increased. An improvement in the process, high purification, was achieved in 1939 through the use of ammonium sulfate and improved filter technology.

Sensitine

So-called Sensitins were developed to differentiate infections with atypical mycobacteria . The Sensitins developed and manufactured by the Danish Statens Serum Institute ("State Serum Institute", SSI) in Copenhagen contain PPD preparations made from Mycobacterium bovis (RS 7) or Mycobacterium avium (RS 10), Mycobacterium fortuitum (RS 20), Mycobacterium intracellulare (RS 23), Mycobacterium kansasii (RS 30), Mycobacterium scrofularum (RS 95) or Mycobacterium marinum (RS 170).

literature

• Thomas Hirtl: The tuberculin . Literas Universitätsverlag, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-85429-167-1 .
• Ulrike Holzgrabe, Siegfried Ebel, Margitta Albinus: Hager's Handbook of Pharmaceutical Practice . Ed .: Wolfgang Blaschek, Franz von Bruchhausen. Volume 5: Substances L – Z. Springer, Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-540-62646-8 , pp. 826 ff .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Flurin Condrau : Treatment without healing. On the social construction of treatment success for tuberculosis in the early 20th century. In: Medicine, Society and History. Volume 19, 2000, pp. 71-94, here: p. 87.
2. ^ Christoph Gradmann : Laboratory disease. Robert Koch's medical bacteriology. Baltimore 2009, pp. 95-103.

This article is about a health issue. It is not used for self-diagnosis and does not replace a diagnosis by a doctor. Please note the information on health issues !