Value of the Tuberculin Skin Test in Screening for Tuberculosis in Dialysis Patients

M.A. Habesoglu, D. Torun, Y.Z. Demiroglu, M. Karataslı, N. Sen, H. Ermis, Nurhan Ozdemir,and F.O. EyubogluABSTRACTBackground. Hemodialysis patients are at high risk for tuberculosis, and a tuberculinskin test (TST) is not usually helpful in detecting tuberculosis infection because of anergicreactions. Prophylactic therapy against tuberculosis in dialysis patients is important toenhance transplantation success. Herein we evaluated the value of TST in screening fortuberculosis and analyzed any com ...

Screening for pulmonary tuberculosis using chest radiography in new employees in an industrial park in Taiwan

Shih-Bin Su, MD, MS,a,b Chien-Fang Chiu, MD,a Cheng-Ta Chang, MD,c Kow-Tong Chen, MD, PhD,dChing-Yih Lin, MD,e and How-Ran Guo, MD, MPH, ScDb,fTainan, TaiwanBackground: Pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is prevalent in Taiwan, but it is suspected that its occurrence has been underestimatedby the National TB Surveillance Program. A pre-employment health examination is mandated by law in Taiwan, providing a mechanismto assess the occurrence of TB more accurately.Methods: A pre-employment TB screening pr ...

Screening for tuberculosis among 2381 household contacts of sputum-smear-positive cases in The Gambia

Dolly Jackson-Sillaha, Philip C. Hill a,∗, Annette Foxa, Roger H. Brookesa,Simon A. Donkora, Moses D. Lugosa, Stephen R.C. Howiea,Katherine R. Fielding b, Adama Jallowc, Christian Lienhardtd,Tumani Corraha, Richard A. Adegbolaa, Keith P. McAdama Summary Contact investigation is a key component of tuberculosis (TB) control in developed,but not developing, countries. We aimed to measure the prevalence of TB among householdcontacts of sputum-smear-positive TB cases in The Gambia and to asses ...

Public health law and tuberculosis control in Europe

R.J. Cokera,, S. Mounier-Jacka, R. Martinb   Summary Background: Tuberculosis control is an important public health challengein many European countries. Law is an important tool that policy-makers candraw upon to support control efforts and, according to the World HealthOrganization, represents a tangible expression of political commitment and will.Despite this, little national research, and even less cross-national comparativeresearch, has been conducted to describe and analyse legislative ...

Is screening for tuberculosis acceptable to immigrants? A qualitative study

P. Brewin1, A. Jones2, M. Kelly3, M. McDonald4, E. Beasley4, P. Sturdy5, G. Bothamley1,C. Griffiths5Background Screening of immigrants has been a widespread response to the global resurgence of tuberculosis but has been criticized as discriminatoryand stigmatising. Acceptability is an essential but neglected ethical prerequisite of screening programmes, particularly those targeting vulnerablegroups such as refugees. No data exist concerning acceptability of tuberculosis screening. We therefore e ...

Tuberculosis in pregnancy – Case studies and a review of Australia’s screening process

Fergus P. McCARTHY,1 Shelley ROWLANDS1 and Michelle GILES21Obstetrics Department and 2Infectious Diseases, Royal Women’s Hospital, Carlton, Victoria, AustraliaAbstractFew changes have occurred in the management of tuberculosis over the past two decades and many of the recentdevelopments are in the area of diagnostics. The application of these to the pregnant population is not yet established.Two cases recently managed at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne highlight the need for cl ...

From contact investigation to tuberculosis screening of drug addicts and homeless persons in Rotterdam

Background: In early 2001 there were indications that tuberculosis (TB) was increasingly becoming aproblem among drug addicts and homeless persons in Rotterdam, after a periodical screening wasdiscontinued in 1997. A contact investigation around a homeless drug addicted man in Rotterdamwith infectious pulmonary TB is described. Contact investigation: A total of 507 drug addicts, homelesspersons, and staff of facilities for these risk groups were examined with tuberculin skin testing (TST) andche ...

Identification of tuberculosis cases by port health screening in Essex 1997–2003

Sally Millership and Amelia Cummins AbstractBetween 1997 and 2003 an annual average of 1867 newentrants seen at the port of arrival were notified to thecommunicable disease teams who now form the EssexHealth Protection Unit. We examined the number of individualswho made contact with health services by linkingport health and tuberculosis databases with combinationsof surname, forename and date of birth the number of newentrants developing tuberculosis. We also searched paperrecords for all incide ...

Using Computerized Clinical Decision Support for Latent Tuberculosis Infection Screening

Andy W. Steele, MD, MPH, Sheri Eisert, PhD, Art Davidson, MD, MPH, Taylor Sandison, MD, Pat Lyons,Nedra Garrett, Patricia Gabow, MD, Eduardo Ortiz, MD, MPHBackground: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has published guidelines recommendingscreening high-risk groups for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). The goal ofthis study was to determine the impact of computerized clinical decision support andguided web-based documentation on screening rates for LTBI.Design: Nonrandomize ...

Screening of Immigrants and Refugees for Pulmonary Tuberculosis in San Diego County, California

Study objectives: To evaluate the outcomes of a tuberculosis (TB) screening program for recentimmigrants to San Diego County, CA, and to compare the demographic and clinical characteristicsof pulmonary TB cases occurring in recently arrived foreign-born persons detected throughthis screening with those of similar cases found through routine surveillance.Design: Retrospective review of computer databases and medical records.Setting: Local public health department.Patients: Recent immigrants and r ...