Universal screening for tuberculosis infection: school's out!

Article Abstract:

Screening for tuberculosis in children should target high-risk groups such as the foreign born and homeless because most of the cases have been found in these groups. Universal screening of school-aged children is unnecessary. Follow-up treatment of tuberculosis infection, however, should be carried out consistently. Compliance is usually low. Children can contract tuberculosis if infected in a foreign country or infected in the U.S. by an adult or adolescent who is contagious. The health status of the adults in children's lives is important in preventing infection. The number of tuberculosis cases in the U.S. has increased nearly 20% from 1985 to 1992. The states of California, New York, Texas, Illinois, Florida, and New Jersey reported more than 70% of tuberculosis cases recently.

Editorial, Planning, Medical screening, Health screening, Tuberculosis in children, Pediatric respiratory diseases

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Laboratory practices for diagnosis of tuberculosis - United States, 1994

Article Abstract:

Rapid laboratory testing should be adopted to aid diagnosis and control the spread of tuberculosis. The use of growth detection (primary culture), rapid acid-fast bacilli smears, identification, and drug-susceptibility testing are suggested. Laboratories that perform mycobacteriology testing are recommended to enroll in proficiency testing. In 1994, of the 2,862 mycobacteriology laboratories, 2,179 performed primary culture for tuberculosis. Fifty-two percent of these laboratories sent positive primary cultures to other laboratories for microbial identification and drug-susceptibility testing, thus delaying diagnosis. Culture tests that provide rapid identification of M. tuberculosis should be used by laboratories.

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Acquired Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis--Buenaventura, Colombia, 1998

Article Abstract:

An outbreak of tuberculosis in the Colombian town of Buenaventura appears to be the result of inadequate treatment. Although the incidence of tuberculosis in Colombia was 26.5 per 100,000 people in 1996, the incidence was 90.5 per 100,000 people in Buenaventura. An 1997 investigation of 18 tuberculosis patients in Buenaventura who had not responded to treatment found that 67% had a strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis that was resistant to drugs. Most had not been treated continuously for a specific period of time and many had not received the proper drugs for treating tuberculosis.

Health aspects, Colombia, Drug resistance in microorganisms, Microbial drug resistance

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