Local Anesthesia and Tuberculin Skin Test in Infants and Children

The use of local anaesthesia efficiently reduces pain due to needle puncture. However, when tuberculin skin test is performed it is the skin reaction to tuberculin injection that is studied. It is a quantitative skin reaction measured in millimiters. From the study of literature it is not known whether local anaesthetic modify skin reaction to tuberculin. Therefore, before recommending the use local anaesthesia for tuberculin intradermal injection we have to rule out a potential effect of local anaesthetic on the result of the test. This is particularly important in children, since there are more sensitive to pain than adults