Evaluation of tuberculin skin test (TST) in vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) using experimentally tuberculin sensitized animals

Background Nowadays, several test methods with different useful values are available for diagnosis of the tuberculosis (TB) in non-human primates (NHPs). Despite some limitations of tuberculin skin test (TST), it is still the most commonly used method for TB testing of NHPs. Methods During this investigation, TST was performed upon three groups of experimentally tuberculin sensitized and one group of non-sensitized vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) by means of two types of old tuberculin (OT) and two types of purified protein derivative (PPD) tuberculin. Results The data obtained from this study revealed that PPD tuberculin prepared from both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis has more advantages over OT in tuberculin testing of the vervet monkeys. The potency of the PPD tuberculin prepared from M bovis was estimated almost twice as much of the M tuberculosis. Conclusions Intrapalpebral injection of 0.1 mL of a concentration of >= 1 mg/mL of PPD tuberculin prepared from M bovis is the preferred method for TST of vervet monkeys.