Doctors do not recommend wetting the Mantoux test due to the fact that then the patient begins to wipe it and can cause irritation, writes RBC with reference to the opinion of experts. In addition, as noted, doctors give such recommendations, focusing on the Pirque skin test, the use of which has already been abandoned.
“In the days of our grandmothers, they didn’t do an intradermal Mantoux test, but a Pirque skin test. Here it was impossible to wet it categorically, there were really serious complications, ”a pediatrician, candidate of medical sciences Grigory Sheyanov told the agency. He added that over time, “the Pirquet test went down in history, it was replaced by a more advanced and safer Mantoux test, and the recommendation not to wet tuberculin tests somehow automatically migrated to Mantoux.” In his opinion, doctors advise patients not to wet the Mantoux test “for the sake of reinsurance” in order to prevent mechanical effects on it.
Infectious disease doctor Yevgeny Timakov also recalled the Pirke test and suggested that “in the minds of nurses and doctors who used to do the test, the thesis remained that it was impossible to wet it.” Timakov noted that “it is possible to wet Mantoux, because Mantoux is an intradermal test, but you cannot warm it up, scratch it.”
“That is, you can’t steam it, cover it with adhesive plasters – a greenhouse effect is created, and there’s nothing wrong with it getting wet,” the expert explained, adding that the Mantoux test can be soaked with a towel, but you can’t rub and comb it, otherwise a local allergic reaction may occur. reaction.
Source: Rosbalt
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