Editing Heaf test (section)

{{Short description|Skin test for tuberculosis in children}}
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{{Infobox diagnostic
| name            = Heaf test
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| purpose         =test tuberculosis in children (discontinued)
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The '''Heaf test''', a [[medical diagnosis|diagnostic]] skin test, was long performed to determine whether or not children had been exposed to [[tuberculosis]] infection.  The test was named after [[F. R. G. Heaf]].  Also known as the '''Sterneedle test''',<ref name="Nolan1996">{{cite book|last=Nolan|first=Thomas E.|title=Primary care for the obstetrician and gynecologist|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XTDzmKfWkSQC&pg=PA285|accessdate=17 October 2010|year=1996|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons|Wiley-IEEE]]|isbn=978-0-471-12279-1|page=285}}</ref> it was administered by a Heaf gun (trademarked "Sterneedle"),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ip.com/pdf/patent/US3969497.pdf|title=Test substance for tuberculosis|date=13 July 1976|publisher=[[United States Patent and Trademark Office]]|accessdate=17 October 2010|quote=...multiple scratch scarifications by an instrument known as the Heaf gun (also known by the Trademark "Sterneedle"), or by...}}{{dead link|date=October 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>  a spring-loaded instrument with six needles arranged in a circular formation which was inserted in the wrist<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/blackmed/heaf_test|title=Heaf Test |year=2010|work=Black's Medical Dictionary, 42nd Edition|publisher=[[A & C Black]]|location=London|accessdate=17 October 2010}} {{subscription required}}</ref> or shoulder.

The Heaf test was discontinued in 2005 because the manufacturer deemed its production to be financially unsustainable after manufacturers could not be found for [[tuberculin]] or Heaf guns.  Until 2005, the test was used in the United Kingdom to determine if the [[Bacillus Calmette-Guérin|BCG]] vaccine was needed; the [[Mantoux test]] is now used instead.  The Heaf test was preferred in the UK, because it was thought to be easier to interpret, with less variability between observers, and less training was required to administer and read the test.

Patients who exhibited a negative reaction to the [[Test method|test]] were considered for [[Bacillus Calmette-Guérin|BCG]] vaccination.

The Heaf test was used to test for tuberculosis in [[Adolescence|adolescents]] aged around 13–14.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|first1=Ian|last1=Shaw|first2=Louise|last2=Woodward|url=http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sprmedanth/british|title=Cultures: British |year=2004|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Medical Anthropology: Health and Illness in the World's Cultures|publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]]|location=Dordrecht|accessdate=17 October 2010}} {{subscription required}}</ref>
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