TUBERCULIN SKIN REACTIONS

In 1890, Koch introduced the general or subcutaneous tuberculin reaction. In 1902, Branner noted a local skin reaction around the site of therapeutic injections of tuberculin. Pirquet1described his cutaneous scratch test in 1907; in the same year Wolff-Eisner and Calmette brought out the conjunctival test, and Morro introduced the percutaneous or inunction test. In 1908, Mantoux2described the intracutaneous test. In 1909, Hamburger and Monti published the results in a series of cases tested with the Pirquet, followed by the "Stich" reaction. No noteworthy additions have been made to this list in twenty years. In all these tests the essential principle is the same, the object being to bring tuberculin into contact with the deeper epithelial cells. The success of the tests depends entirely on the accuracy with which this contact is established, and therefore the Mantoux and Stich reactions should be expected to be more certain