Tuberculosis (TB) is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide [1-4]. Approximately 90% of people who get infected with TB will develop a latent TB (LTB) infection [5]. Due to specific character of military service, soldiers are a high exposure risk group [7, 8].
The main goal of our cross-sectional study was to determine the actual epidemiological situation of tuberculosis infection among Polish Armed Forces personnel. The difference in LTB incidence between the groups of Military Police – Civil Military Cooperation Group (MP-CIMIC) and soldiers not deployed abroad were assessed. The QFT-TB Gold assay was used for screening military personnel. Soldiers deployed frequently to international missions happened to have more frequently positive results of the test than the personnel located in Poland with no international deployment history. We conclude that TB-specific interferon-g release assays may be useful as a screening tool in increased risk groups in otherwise healthy military personnel for identifying individuals with TB latent infections who are likely to develop an active form of the disease.