The Mantoux reaction in pulmonary tuberculosis.

The Mantoux test was done on 181 tuberculous patients, of which 124 were sputum-positive. In 102 (93%) sputum positive cases the tuberculin reaction was between 10 and 19 mm. and in only 2 cases was the reaction less than 6 mm. In the sputum negative cases 7 (12%) were Mantoux negative and 5 (9%) had reactions of less than 10 mm. In some of the sputum-negative cases the diagnosis of tuberculosis may have been incorrect.