A Comparative Study of Histoplasmin Tine and Intradermal Skin Tests in Volunteers

¹ Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases
² Professor of Medicine and Microbiology; Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases

Two histoplasmin tine tests of different strengths (10x and 18x) and two standard histoplasmin intradermal tests were simultaneously compared in each of 100 normal young adult volunteers. Thirty-four had positive reactions to all four tests with at least two mm and five mm induration at the tine and intradermal sites, respectively; 66 had all negative reactions. The results indicate excellent correlation between the histoplasmin tine and intradermal methods but are in contrast to previously published studies which reported significant percentages of false-positive and false-negative tine reactions. These discrepancies suggest that further studies are needed to define the exact clinical reliability of the histoplasmin tine method.